Twist of Fate
by jazzpha
Summary: AU. Lu Ten survived the Siege of Ba Sing Se, and the Earth Kingdom fell. Iroh rules the Fire Nation, but his reign does not go unquestioned. Meanwhile, a new Avatar is found in the South... and Princess Azula's idea of a prank changes everything. Zutara.
1. One Simple Idea

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 1: **One Simple Idea**  
**

* * *

The bolt of lightning shot through the air with a crackle, a bright arc of blue lighting up the surroundings brilliantly for a split-second…

Only to go wide of the narrow target by a millimeter, leaving a black scorch-mark on the far left side of the wooden stake.

"Damn it!" Azula seethed, her amber eyes narrowed into furious slits as she stared down the slim wooden post. That was her third try, and the closest she'd gotten was a pathetic black mark. She should have been able to splinter this miserable plank of wood into a hundred pieces on her first try by now!

A burst of amused laughter drew the princess sharply out of her thoughts, and she spun around to glare at the young man standing behind her.

"What's so funny?"

He slowed his laughter to a trickle and then stopped it altogether, wiping at his eyes to re-focus them.

"You," he said at last, straightening up and scratching absently at one of his black sideburns. "You're hilarious. Cut yourself some slack once in a while, Azula; it'll do you good."

"Well, I'm glad my failure can provide you with amusement, Lu Ten," the princess said sharply as she stalked over towards her cousin, her eyes blazing. "Be thankful that we're family, or I'd burn that smirk right off of your face."

By now she was standing at arms-length from Lu Ten, looking up at him with a face that was twisted into a mask of anger. Lu Ten just smiled, reaching down and ruffling his cousin's hair.

"I'd like to see you try," he said with a casualness that just infuriated Azula even more, but with a smile that took most of the sting from his words. "C'mon," he said with a shake of his head towards the singed post, "let's see if we can't get this right before the meeting starts."

Lu Ten took a few steps over toward the targets. Azula followed in his wake and fixed her hair with practiced quickness, a frown on her face. She was going to make him pay the next time he did that.

Next time.

"Your main problem is your anger," Lu Ten said evenly, letting his eyes close and taking a few deep breaths to calm himself as his body shifted unconsciously into the stance for lightning formation. "Frustration and other negative emotions can cloud the flow of your _chi_, blocking or distorting the creation of lightning. The key is to be completely free of emotion; to let the energy flow unimpeded through you. The angrier you get, the more likely it is that you'll mess up the point of release."

Lu Ten stopped talking and brought one arm up above him while dropping the other down lower, before beginning to move them in opposing half-circles. Blue sparks of lightning appeared at the tips of each of his forefingers, growing more and more intense until he brought both hands out in front of him and released the lighting in a tight spread, shattering the wooden stake that Azula had burned earlier.

The princess swallowed her indignation at being shown up and nodded, turning her attention to the lone remaining target. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a slow, measured hiss, she forced all emotions from her mind and focused only on her goal of obliterating her target from existence. Dropping into the stance, she split the energy residing in her stomach in two, letting it flow in positive and negative halves as she performed the circular motion with her arms. Maintaining iron concentration, Azula brought both halves colliding back into one as she moved her hands together, forcing the lightning out from a single point of focus at her forefingers.

She heard the groaning sound of wood cracking and splintering a heartbeat later and knew she'd done it. Opening her eyes slowly to savor the moment, Azula saw the smoking wreckage of the former target post and allowed herself a satisfied smile at her accomplishment.

"Impressive," a gravelly voice called over from behind the princess. She turned abruptly to face the newcomer, finding herself looking at the white-haired, scarred face of Admiral Jeong Jeong. "Most impressive, Princess Azula," he said with a half-bow. "A prodigy indeed; you're the youngest Firebender I've ever seen control lightning that precisely. Even Lu Ten here was two years older than your brother is now before he had tamed the cold-blooded fire."

"Was he, now?" Azula asked with practiced innocence, sneaking a glance at her cousin to see him looking pointedly in the other direction. "He'd forgotten to mention that."

Jeong Jeong chuckled.

"Yes, I would imagine he did," the Admiral said with a small smile, before his face became serious again. "Come; your uncle is waiting for us in the Throne Room."

Jeong Jeong turned and walked back inside, leaving Azula and Lu Ten alone again. The princess looked at her cousin and gave him a wickedly satisfied grin, but Lu Ten was unfazed.

"What?"

Azula held up four fingers: one for each year she'd learned to bend lightning before he had. Lu Ten just frowned.

"Yeah, yeah," he groused, "laugh it up. When you can break three posts simultaneously with a single blast of lightning, then I'll start taking you seriously."

Azula dropped her hand back down by her side, her eyes widening slightly in surprise. She waited for him to laugh it off as an exaggeration, or to tell her he was joking… but when that moment didn't come and he just started walking back inside, Azula felt a sinking feeling in her gut.

"Are you serious?" she asked Lu Ten as they walked back into the palace, side-by-side. "Can you really do that?"

Her cousin didn't reply, merely giving her a smug smirk and a shrug. Azula's previous sense of accomplishment had all-but evaporated by now, replaced by a dark cloud of anger.

"Don't worry about it, Azula," Lu Ten said consolingly, reaching down and ruffling her hair almost absently. "You'll get there; it just takes practice. Probably a lot less practice for someone like you, but still practice all the same."

Azula huffed and busied herself with her hair, promising herself once more that she'd make him pay the next time he did that.

Next time.

* * *

Fire Lord Iroh swept his calm eyes over the table of his top advisers and trusted family members once as he drew a calming breath, preparing himself for the meeting. That done, he looked over to regard his son Lu Ten sitting on his right- and his brother Ozai sitting on his left- before speaking.

"Well, now that we're all here, we might as well begin. Admiral Jeong Jeong, your report."

Jeong Jeong rose from his seat at the long table and bowed his head respectfully.

"My Lord," he intoned seriously. "The treaty with King Bumi of Omashu was signed and witnessed yesterday—for all intents and purposes, the Earth Kingdom has been brought under our control."

Iroh nodded in satisfaction, but not everyone in the room agreed with the sentiment. Jeong Jeong's subordinate, Commander Zhao, was quick to spring to his feet in rebuttal.

"With all due respect, my Lord," the soldier said in a tone that conveyed very little, "I do not believe this to be the best course of action at all."

"Oh?" Iroh said curiously, and if he was angered at all by the presumptuous interjection he hid it masterfully. "And why is that, Commander?"

"I don't trust King Bumi at all, my Lord," Zhao said firmly, standing his ground. "He is as wily as he is powerful, however he might choose to hide it behind false madness. He is a dangerous threat to leave unchecked; dangerous enough, I believe, to cause the Earth Kingdom to rebel."

"I agree with the Commander's assessment," Ozai's smooth, sharp voice seconded as soon as the other soldier had retaken his seat. "We cannot allow misplaced trust to jeopardize everything we've worked so hard to build throughout this war. I admire your confidence, brother, but this is one gamble I simply do not see us winning."

"I beg to differ, uncle," Prince Lu Ten countered evenly, the young man meeting his uncle's firm glare with an equally-unbending gaze. "Ba Sing Se is ours; my father and I have seen to that. And if that was going to change, the people would have risen up against us by now. The fact of the matter is that they know better than to risk their lives starting a war they know they could not possibly win.

"And even if King Bumi decided to revolt, without the support of Ba Sing Se any rebellion of his would wither and die on the vine. We have nothing to lose by trusting King Bumi to honor his word, and everything to gain."

Iroh laughed loudly as his son finished his speech, his amber eyes bright with mirth.

"I could not have said it better myself," he said after he'd recovered, giving his brother a mollifying look. "While I understand your concerns, General Ozai," he said, "waiting for him to make the first move would still be our wisest course of action. If he breaks the treaty, he would be clearly in the wrong and we would have all the justification we need to destroy Omashu completely.

"But I still don't think that will come to pass," he finished determinedly. "I've known King Bumi for many years, and he is an honorable man. He will hold true to the treaty; I can promise you that."

Commander Zhao grumbled something about honor being less than worthless in a time of war. Iroh let it pass, but Jeong Jeong gave his former student a stern look that stilled any further complaints.

"There is one thing I would like to mention, my Lord, if I may," Jeong Jeong said, rising to his feet as Iroh nodded. "I noticed something odd in one of the recent reports sent back by our military base in the Southern Earth Kingdom. It would appear as though one of our platoons was defeated in combat outside of the town of Gaoling."

"A whole platoon?" Iroh echoed in surprise, his eyebrows raising. "I didn't think that part of the Earth Kingdom could field enough troops to take down a platoon without us hearing about it."

"That's because they didn't field any troops," Zhao broke in, his voice low and venomous as rage shined in his eyes. "Not in the strictest sense of the word, at least. It was a small group of Earthbenders, engaged in guerilla warfare."

"And how do you know this?" Prince Zuko asked, causing Zhao to shift his eyes to stare at the young man across from him. Zuko didn't flinch.

"I know because I was commanding the platoon, Prince," Zhao said flatly. "I tried to discover the identity of our attackers, but their use of the terrain was flawless. We were beaten back, and I ordered a retreat rather than risking the loss of any more of my men."

"A wise decision," Iroh commented, but a gale of laughter cut him off.

"You let a ragtag band of peasants beat you on the field?" Princess Azula asked incredulously, her eyes wide. "You didn't even hold your ground long enough to figure out who they were before turning tail and running?"

"Quiet, Azula," her mother Ursa hissed firmly, hushing her.

"You both raise good points," Iroh said equivocally, his voice as calm as ever. "Commander Zhao, you were right not to risk any of your troops unnecessarily in a fight where you were outmatched," the Fire Lord continued. "However, Princess Azula is right as well. If nothing else, you should have discovered the identities of your attackers before retreating. Without those, fair and measured reprisals are impossible."

"There was one person mentioned in the report as having been a hostile enemy, my Lord," Jeong Jeong spoke up, and Zhao's eyes whipped back over to stare daggers at his former teacher. Whether he didn't see the silent demand to stop talking, or simply chose to ignore it, the Admiral pressed on. "A blind girl, apparently about the same age as Princess Azula—if not slightly younger."

This time Azula's laughter was stopped by her hand politely covering her mouth, but her eyes shone with open scorn.

"I see," Iroh said slowly, falling silent into thought for several heartbeats, letting his eyes close as he did so. When they opened again, they glinted with purpose.

"Lu Ten," he said with the regal weight of an order in his voice, "you are to depart for Gaoling as soon as this meeting comes to an end. I want you to find this blind bandit and learn what you can from her: who her accomplices are, what kind of system they have set up, if they have any agents in Ba Sing Se or Omashu—anything you think might be of use to us."

Lu Ten bowed his head in acceptance.

"Of course, my Lord."

Iroh opened his mouth to say something else, but then paused, his hand still in the middle of stroking his beard. His head turned to face Azula, and he gave his niece a wide smile.

"Princess Azula," the Fire Lord said jovially, "I think you should accompany Lu Ten on this trip. If the girl we're searching for is about your age, she might open up more readily to you. If the Lady Ursa would allow it, of course," Iroh amended, shifting his gaze over to his sister-in-law. Ursa smiled, nodding in deference.

"If the Fire Lord wills it, it will be so," she said. "I know that Azula is perfectly capable of looking after herself; with Lu Ten looking over her shoulder, I have nothing to worry about."

"Good," Iroh said contentedly, and Lu Ten broke his mask of solemn formality to slip Azula a quick smile. She didn't react noticeably, but the corner of her mouth rose ever-so-slightly before coming back down again.

"While I am glad to see my daughter being given a chance to prove her mettle, my Lord," Ozai said after the silence had spanned a few beats, "there is something important we have yet to discuss: the Northern and Southern Water Tribes."

Iroh nodded, his face turning stony again. The Northern and Southern Water Tribes were the last two major obstacles standing between the Fire Nation and complete hegemonic control of the world, and they were proving to be quite the stumbling blocks.

"I believe we stand to gain the most from a quick, decisive attack on the Southern Water Tribe," Zhao offered, the earnestness in his voice almost painful to hear. "Removing them will keep us from having to fight a two-front war, and allow our army and navy to focus a siege specifically on the Northern Water Tribe."

Iroh did not speak at once, allowing Zhao's proposal to hang in the air and give someone else the chance to evaluate it before passing his judgment.

He didn't have to wait long at all.

"While I agree that splitting the two Tribes apart is a vital piece of any successful strategy," Ozai spoke up, "the idea of laying siege to the Northern Tribe is foolish. I would propose instead that we wait a few months for the arrival of Sozin's Comet: that would give us more than enough power to annihilate the Northern Water Tribe from the face of the Earth."

Zhao forced back a grimace and nodded, but Iroh's face became clouded and troubled at the track his brother's thoughts had taken.

"Let us hope," he said darkly, "that such drastic measures never become necessary. My grandfather's massacre of the Air Nomads is not an episode in history I would care to repeat—there are other paths to peace besides total dominion, General Ozai."

"Of course, my Lord," Ozai replied with a short nod. "I was merely suggesting the possibility."

Iroh shrugged, his lips pursed like he'd eaten something unexpectedly sour.

"My Lord," Zuko spoke softly into the uneasy silence, "might I say something?"

Iroh gave his nephew an easy smile, the tension in the room melting away.

"Of course, Prince Zuko," he said. "What is it?"

Zuko took a deep breath, and Azula felt her fists clench instinctively as she saw the look on her brother's face; he only got this tense when something truly serious had happened, and it was almost never good news.

"I do not believe," he began slowly, "that the Southern Water Tribe will be easy to conquer."

"Oh?" Iroh exclaimed, his eyebrows rising ever so slightly on his face. "And why is that?"

"I was there this past week on a routine intelligence-gathering run," he said, his voice tight. "I was posing in my usual disguise as a merchant, and no one had any way to suspect who I actually was. While I was there, I overheard some Waterbenders talking about the Avatar."

The silence that fell over the room at that word was palpable, and dense as a tigerdillo's armored plating.

"The Avatar is dead, brother," Azula said at last. "Lu Ten killed the last surviving Airbender himself, fifteen years ago. We have proof of this."

"I know that," Zuko said, his voice sharper than Azula had heard it in quite some time. "They were talking about the new Avatar; the next reincarnation. Water follows after Air in the cycle—I think the Avatar might be a member of the Southern Water Tribe. And not only that, but I think I know whom she might be."

"'She'?" Lu Ten echoed, surprised. "That's a change of pace. There hasn't been a female Avatar since Kyoshi. Who is it?"

Zuko swallowed, regaining his balance and clearly glad that the news had gone over so smoothly.

"I believe her name is Katara," he said confidently. "The daughter of the Tribe's chieftain, Hakoda. I've spoken to her once or twice before; she's strong-willed, and would certainly fight tooth-and-nail to protect her people."

"The Avatar," Iroh said solemnly, and with no small amount of reverence. "This certainly casts things in a new light." He sighed, running a hand absently through his beard. "Thank you for this information, Zuko," the Fire Lord finished with a weary smile. "Unfortunately, this might set our plans back a few years- depending on the course of action the Avatar chooses to take."

"Not necessarily, my Lord," Azula broke in seamlessly, rising to her feet with fluid grace and a mischievous smile. "There might be a way to bring the Avatar under our wings without any struggle whatsoever."

Iroh leaned forward slightly on his throne. "I'm listening," he said, and Azula's smile widened, causing a knot to form in Zuko's stomach. He knew that smile: it was the smile Azula always wore whenever she was about to throw him under some kind of stampede for her own personal amusement.

"The two of them could get married."

This time the silence that settled wasn't nearly as dense as the one that had come before it, but it was equally as palpable. At least, until Zuko broke it with his normal amount of tact.

"_What?_" He shouted, no small amount of red showing on his cheeks at the suggestion. "How does that make any sense?"

"It makes perfect sense, Zuko," Azula countered, undaunted. Her smile widened and her eyes took on malicious glee as she got ready to turn the screws. "Think about it this way: you're a Prince who's been a bachelor for too long now anyway. She's technically a princess, so the formality side of the arrangement is satisfied," she explained, walking around the table towards her brother. "You've already spoken to her before, so she knows who you are—even if she doesn't know you're from the Fire Nation, but that shouldn't be impossible to work around.

"And, last but not least," she finished, now standing practically over Zuko's shoulder, "she's the Avatar, and this is quite possibly the only way to neutralize her as a threat without loosing a single fire-blast. And not only that, but an alliance through marriage would keep the entire Southern Water Tribe honor-bound to us in the event of a war with the Northern Tribe.

"So you see," she said, turning to face the Fire Lord with a wide smile as she finished with a flourish, "it's the perfect solution to several problems, all at the same time."

Iroh let out a deep belly laugh as Zuko sputtered in his seat, and even Ozai had a smile on his face.

"While I'm not sure I can accept the idea of my son marrying outside of the Fire Nation quite yet," he said at last, "your analysis of the situation is impeccable, Azula. I would expect nothing less from you."

Azula bowed at the praise, and a genuine smile flashed briefly across her face.

"Very well," Iroh said after Azula had taken her seat again. The Fire Lord smiling to himself as it appeared Zuko was deciding whether or not to leap across the table and start strangling his sister. "It seems I have two journeys to commence, rather than just one. Lu Ten, you and Azula will travel to Gaoling as we discussed, in search of this blind Earthbender.

"Zuko, you and Lady Ursa will travel to the Southern Water Tribe. Once there, seek an audience with Chieftain Hakoda, his wife Kya and the Avatar. Do not overplay your hand; simply let them know that we are aware of the Avatar's identity, and make our proposal known to them. With luck, they will accept."

Ursa bowed in her son's stead, as Zuko was still reeling from the unexpected turn of events.

"It will be done, my Lord," she said with a graceful curtsy, and Iroh smiled. He was glad to see that his nephew would at least be considering the possibility of marriage—he had been single for sixteen years running now, far too long for any royalty. Sooner or later, he would need an heir to solidify his line, in case anything happened to his uncle and his father.

"Good," the Fire Lord said with a nod, pulling himself back to the present. "The four of you are dismissed. General Ozai; Admiral Jeong Jeong; Commander Zhao; I would request your presence for a while longer. If war with the Northern Water Tribe is indeed inevitable, a strategy must be decided upon… and the sooner that happens, the better."

Zuko, Ursa, Azula and Lu Ten rose and left, silent until they were outside of the throne room. Zuko shot his sister a withering glare, but Azula only shrugged.

"What?" she asked casually, as if all-but locking her sibling into a marriage was as normal as commenting on the weather. "Why are you staring at me like that? If anything, you should be thanking me. I did you a favor."

"We'll see," Zuko said lowly, glancing imploringly at his cousin over his shoulder as his mother guided him the other way down the hall. But Lu Ten only shrugged, fighting to keep the smile off of his face until after Zuko was out of sight.

"Now that," he said when he and Azula were alone in the hall, "was brilliant. Devious, but brilliant."

"Thank you, cousin," Azula said with a small smile and a nod of her head. "Sooner or later, I'm sure little Zuzu will agree with you. He's so hopeless sometimes it drives me crazy to think I'm behind him in the line of succession."

Lu Ten laughed and ruffled his cousin's hair, motioning down the other hallway with a shake of his head.

"C'mon," he said, dark amber eyes smiling. "We have a lot of ground to cover between here and Gaoling, and we're going to need to be ready to fight when we get there. Once we complete our mission successfully, _then_ you can worry about your brother's girl problems."

Azula huffed as she worked to straighten her hair out again with practiced motions, still unable to keep the slightest of smiles from flitting across her face as she did so.

She was going to make him pay the next time he did that, though.

Next time.

* * *

...

...**  
**

**A/N: **And there we have it; Chapter 1. It took me a while to decide on the idea for this story- at first I tried building something off of the end of the series' canon, but it all wrapped up so nicely that I couldn't find a hook strong enough to make it work. I've always liked the possibilities presented by Lu Ten's character, though, so I figured I'd try giving him a reprieve from death and seeing what spun out from there.

This story is the result of that change. I know people are usually pretty resistant to AUs, and especially ones that make an alteration as radical as this... but my hope is that you'll give this yarn a chance all the same- and hopefully enjoy it.

Thank you for reading this far, and if you could spare the time, I'd love to hear what you think in a review. That would be awesome. Regardless, though, I hope to see you next chapter!

**- Jazz**

_P.S.-_ If you're reading this, **Grinja**, I apologize for focusing on a different project ahead of 'Legacies'... this one just got it hooks into me and wouldn't let go.**  
**


	2. Worthy Opponents

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 2: **Worthy Opponents

* * *

"Whew," Lu Ten breathed out in relief as he dismounted from his giant eel-hound and put his feet back down on dry land, "I'm glad that part's over. I've never gotten used to how that feels."

"Don't tell me the great crown prince of the Fire Nation gets seasick," Azula said with a mocking smile, and her cousin chuckled.

"Not at all," he replied. "It's just that riding on an eel-hound is completely different from standing on the deck of a ship: fall off, and it's a pain in the ass to get back on. They have short tempers, and even less patience."

"Whatever you say, cousin," Azula said with a light shrug, looking around for some dry wood and beginning to break it into kindling as Lu Ten unwrapped some of the meat they'd brought with them for meals. "Can I ask you something?" she said as she finished making the pile and ignited it with a small gout of blue flame, completing the campfire.

"Sure," the crown prince answered as he skewered the pieces of meat on metal spikes and held one of them over the fire, handing the second one to Azula. "What's on your mind?"

"What was it like," the princess asked expectantly, "killing the Avatar?"

Lu Ten's piece of meat stopped in mid-rotation over the flames, his eyes clouding over and looking distantly into the fire.

"Honestly," he said, his voice suddenly as cold and heavy as Azula had heard it since the day he'd come back from the Siege of Ba Sing Se, "it was the single hardest thing I've ever done. Not a day goes by that I don't regret it."

"That's surprising," Azula said almost evenly, her voice betraying only a shred of emotion. "I didn't think something like death would unsettle you at this point. Haven't you been fighting battles for years?"

Lu Ten shook his head negatively, coming back to himself as he continued to roast his steak over the fire.

"This was different," he insisted. "Fighting a battle in war- against other armed soldiers who are fully ready and willing to risk their lives—that's one thing. But this…" he shook his head again, disgust creeping into his stoic expression. "This was murder, pure and simple. He was just a kid, younger than you, and I killed him in cold blood."

"You were doing your duty to the Fire Nation," Azula bit out, this sudden display of sentimentality getting under her skin. "There's no shame in that."

Lu Ten gave his cousin a hollow smile, pity in his eyes that made the princess even more uncomfortable.

"That's what I told myself for a while," he said after a few moments had passed. "Then I tried to convince myself that I'd done the kid a favor, saving him from the burden of growing up as the last of his kind. But in the end, none of the excuses matter. I did what I did, and now I have to live with it."

Azula grunted dismissively, finishing up cooking her lunch and tearing a large chunk of the meat off the skewer with her teeth. The princess chewed with a decided lack of refinement, trying to ignore the roil of emotions in the pit of her stomach. She respected Lu Ten, certainly; a lot more than her own brother, anyway. But she'd always seen him as a war-hero, fearless and relentless. To know that he had regrets about what he'd done—that he felt shame over an act that had brought him great glory and honor among his own people—that troubled Azula greatly. If Lu Ten allowed himself to be so tormented by the death of the Avatar, then—

"You want to know why I did it," the crown prince's calm voice cut into her thoughts with eerie accuracy. "Am I right?"

Azula nodded, and Lu Ten gave a small smile as he handed her a piece of cloth to deal with the thin line of juice running unbecomingly down her chin.

"I did it because I had to," Lu Ten explained as Azula finished her mouthful, "pure and simple. Like you said, it was my duty to my father and to the Fire Nation, and I couldn't back out of it. Our great-grandfather Sozin was the one who started the war on the Air Nomads, and it was only right that a member of his line would finish it."

Azula was quiet for a few moments, chewing through a smaller bite of meat before speaking again.

"That's not the whole truth, is it?" she pressed, her eyes narrowing. "You knew that if you'd let the Avatar go and word of it had gotten out, it would have thrown your integrity into question. My father could have claimed you were unfit to succeed Iroh as Fire Lord, and moved to have Zuko replace you in line to the throne. From there, my father could have pulled the strings with impunity—and you didn't want that to happen, did you?" Azula paused, giving her cousin a searching stare before finishing her analysis. "If civil war broke out amongst our family," she said slowly, "you're not quite sure that you'd survive it."

Lu Ten blinked once and tilted his head slightly to the side, giving Azula a long look. For an instant the princess was afraid that she'd pushed too far, and braced herself for the inevitable reproaches: that that was a horrible thing to say, that family always stuck together, that she shouldn't be thinking about the world in such cutthroat political terms. If her own mother could say those things to her, after all, what would make her cousin any different?

But contrary to all of Azula's expectations, Lu Ten just laughed. All of the gloom vanished from his expression as if it had never even been there, and he regarded his cousin with a look of plain respect.

"It's too bad that you weren't on the field with me at Ba Sing Se, Azula," he said after taking another bite of meat. "With a born warrior like you out there, we would have taken the city in half the time. The other nations don't know how lucky they are that Zuko is ahead of you in line for the throne, I'll say that much."

Azula fought down a smile, but let relief flow through her all the same. She'd been worried that Lu Ten would ostracize her just like everyone else had—except her father, of course—but that hadn't happened. Not that she would ever admit to being glad for it, but emotions like gratitude had no place being outwardly expressed anyway. Such displays were for the weak, and she was anything but that.

"Well," Lu Ten sighed with a satisfied pat of his stomach, "that was delicious. And it looks like those two are rested and ready to continue, too," he said, gesturing over at the two eel-hounds that were chomping at their bits. "Shall we?"

Azula nodded and rose, wiping a few stray blades of grass from her skirt as she did so. The pair re-mounted their eel-hounds and resumed the journey toward Gaoling, the sun shining down at them from its zenith. Lu Ten snuck a sideways glance at his cousin as they raced along, suddenly acutely aware of a knot growing larger and larger in his stomach. He'd hidden his worry earlier with laughter, but the fact of the matter remained that Azula had been absolutely right in her assessment of the political landscape.

He and Ursa had tried long and hard to curb the ruthless instincts that Azula seemed to have inherited from her father in full force, but it was painfully clear that they'd only achieved their goal up to a point. The princess was her father's daughter to the core, and Lu Ten was unsure about what—if anything—could possibly change that.

The crown prince just hoped that Ozai would never let his ambitions overrule his intellect and actually attempt a coup. If that happened, Lu Ten was unsure whether or not his father could defeat Ozai in combat—and Lu Ten himself certainly didn't want to fight Zuko or Azula seriously. He was fairly sure he could defeat both of them if his hand was ever forced... but the cost of such bloodshed would be far too high to even contemplate, let alone realize.

The image of Azula's controlled blast of lightning that morning flashed through Lu Ten's mind, unbidden. He waited for a fortunate gust of wind before letting a shudder run through him, hiding his anxiety from his cousin.

* * *

_The wind cut at his face like knives, reminding the prince once again that he owed his mother a huge thank-you for convincing him to dress so warmly. How the people of the Southern Water Tribe lived down here without freezing to death, he had no idea. Crossing his shoulders tighter over his chest, Zuko sighed against the scarf covering his mouth and stepped down the plank of his little dinghy, pushing his cart of wares in front of him._

_He'd been hesitant at first to adopt the disguise of a lowly merchant for his reconnaissance missions into Southern Water Tribe territory. He'd relented in the end, though, after his cousin's constant insistence had made refusal all-but impossible. The first few stops he'd made here had been awkward as he'd settled into the role with some growing pains; by the third trip, though, he'd been invited to share lunch with one of the families and had become something of a known face in the tribe. When children started to come up to him and unabashedly ask him for sweets, Zuko figured he'd passed the final test._

_He'd never been more grateful for false lenses in his life, covering up his telltale amber eyes with a far more innocuous and commonplace brown shade. After all, if he wanted his cover to stay put, the last thing he could afford would be for people to know he was from the Fire Nation—not to mention a member of that same nation's royalty._

"_Lee! Lee!"_

_The happy shouts of his assumed name drew Zuko out of his thoughts and back into the present, and the prince looked down to see one of the younger children in the village sprinting towards his cart._

"_You're late," she said as she came to a halt in front of him, hands on her hips as she pouted in a way that reminded Zuko of Ty Lee. "You were supposed to be here yesterday, remember?"_

"_Sorry," the prince apologized with what he hoped was the right amount of humility. "I got held up back home with some family things. My uncle needed me for something important, so I couldn't come on schedule."_

_He left out the part where the 'something important' had been a nighttime raid on a resisting Earth Kingdom outpost a few miles outside of Omashu, a mission he'd run with Lu Ten. Some soldiers had apparently refused to follow King Bumi's orders to obey the treaty he'd signed with the Fire Nation, and had decided to desert and go rogue. With a heavy heart, Fire Lord Iroh had ordered his son and his nephew to deal with the problem. _

_A few years ago, the sight of the corpses they had left in their wake would have made him cringe as they bubbled up through his memory... but not any more._

"'_S'okay," the girl relented, flashing Zuko a wide, innocent smile that compelled the prince to pull down the scarf covering his mouth and smile back. A fresh blast of wind made him regret the gesture instantly, and his hasty move to reposition his scarf made the girl laugh loudly._

"_People from the Earth Kingdom have no idea how to deal with the cold," she said through the end of a giggle. "My gramma says you need to stay down here for a while, to make your blood strong."_

"_I'd love to," Zuko lied, repressing another shiver at a fresh gust of wind, "but your tribe aren't my only customers."_

_The finer points of a merchant's day-to-day life seemed to bore the little girl, her eyes glazing over as she blatantly ignored what Zuko had just said. A moment later she blinked and smiled again, a glint in her eyes that the prince knew all-too well. He had his hand reaching down to a compartment in the back of his cart before the question had even been asked._

"_Do you have anything tasty?" she said boldly, and Zuko chuckled as he tossed her a chewy piece of licorice. He'd never understood the appeal of the stuff, but apparently everyone down here loved it._

_The prince wasn't about to question their tastes, though. The more these people felt at ease around him, the better._

"_This is good!" the girl said with another smile, her white teeth now lightly stained with black where the gummy candy had been. "Thanks, Lee!"_

"_Don't mention it," Zuko replied, before something gave him pause. "What's your name?" he asked, realizing with more than a little awkwardness that he'd known this girl for a month and a half and still had no idea who she was._

"_It's Lyra," the girl said with another smile. "My mom's Morra, Chief Hakoda's sister. That means he's my uncle! Cool, huh?"_

"_Yeah," Zuko agreed, a bittersweet smile crossing his face beneath his scarf. It would be nice to be able to just enjoy being part of a royal family— and all the respect and admiration that came with it—without having to worry about assassination attempts courtesy of your own family members. He couldn't prove it, but he had no doubts that Azula had put the bone in his tuna sandwich he'd almost choked on the other day._

"_Lee? Lee? Are you listening to me?"_

_Zuko blinked and looked down again, seeing Lyra tugging impatiently at his sleeve. He shook his head in embarrassment._

"_I'm sorry, I was thinking about my sister," he answered. "What did you say?"_

"_I _said_," Lyra repeated, drawing out the second word with childish emphasis that made Zuko smile despite himself, "that you're not gonna believe what I heard about the other day!"_

"_What?" Zuko asked with as much interest as he could muster, preparing himself for a barrage of fluff about all of Lyra's friends or the pet seal cub she probably had._

"_My cousin, Katara…" here Lyra paused to draw herself up to full height, puffing her chest out theatrically, "is the new Avatar!"_

_Zuko couldn't keep his mouth from opening wide at that, along with his eyes. Was this girl serious? Was that even possible?_

"_How can you be sure?" Zuko asked, struggling to keep his voice merely skeptical. "Can you prove it?"_

"_Well, _I _can't," Lyra said matter-of-factly, as if she was explaining something to a child younger than she was. "But I _do_ know that some old man came down all the way from the Northern Water Tribe yesterday. He said that he'd done some kinda test on every Waterbender up north to see if any of them were the Avatar, but he hadn't found anyone who passed it."_

"_So he thought the Avatar must have been reborn down here, in the Southern Tribe," Zuko finished. Lyra's face twisted into a peevish expression at being interrupted, but it passed when Zuko tossed her another piece of licorice. Smiling wide, the girl resumed her story._

"_Anyway, this old guy had a giant, _huge_ sack of toys with him—a bunch of things like the stuff my gramma used to play with, or so she said. And the old guy had all of us pick four of them. It didn't look like any of us got it right... but when Katara did it, the old man bowed down and said she was the Avatar! I wouldn't believe it either, but I was there when it happened!"_

_Zuko could barely breathe, his chest had tightened so suddenly. He'd heard of the Test of the Relics from his uncle growing up: how each person who could possibly be the Avatar was given a choice of trinkets from a multitude, and the one who picked the four correct ones—in the order that symbolized the cycle of the elements—was the Avatar reborn. And Lyra's story had the ring of truth to it, reinforced by the fact that she had no idea who he was, giving her reason to lie…_

"_Can I see her?" Zuko asked at last, trying not to sound too desperate. Judging from the sly look on Lyra's face, he'd failed miserably. _

"_My uncle said she's not supposed to see anyone, until they can be sure no one but us knows about Katara being the Avatar." Lyra said, blissfully uncaring of the fact that she was telling the news to someone who traveled all over the world for a living. "Besides, I think if someone like you tried to propose to Katara, her brother Sokka would break your neck. And you would need a betrothal necklace for that to work, anyway—"_

"_Wait, wait, back up," Zuko stammered, holding his hands out to stop the young girl from speaking. "Who said anything about proposing to anyone? Where'd you get that idea from?"_

"_Whaddaya mean?" Lyra asked, her gray eyes innocently curious as she cocked her head slightly to the side. "Why else would you have been talking to her for so long the last time you came through?"_

To see if I could learn any useful information on your tribe from the chieftain's daughter_, Zuko thought to himself, but kept those words in the back of his throat._

"_Because I had things to sell," he said hotly. "Things I thought she would buy. That _is_ my job, after all."_

"_Oh," Lyra said, nonplussed, her face falling. There was also something in her voice that sounded vaguely like disappointment, but the prince couldn't be sure. "Guess that doesn't matter, then. Sorry I asked."_

"_Don't worry about it," Zuko replied quickly, cringing inwardly at the sight of Lyra frowning. Then he cringed deeper at the fact that he was even cringing at the sight of some upset Water Tribe girl. Eager to shift his attention elsewhere, he kept talking. "What do you even know about marriages, anyway? Aren't you only ten, or something?"_

"_I'm twelve!" Lyra huffed, forgetting her earlier disappointment completely in a flash of indignation. "And for your information, Lee, I'm probably going to be betrothed to someone when I'm fifteen—just like Katara."_

"_She's already betrothed to someone?" Zuko asked before he could stop himself, biting his tongue in anger a heartbeat later. Scrambling to recover, he scratched absently at the back of his head. "I mean, didn't you just say her father wasn't letting anyone see her?"_

_But Lyra was sharp, and the slip didn't go past her unnoticed. _

"_Well, she did have a couple of suitors before the old visitor man found out she was the Avatar," Lyra said, an edge of slyness back in her voice. "That put a stop to the whole thing. If you can find a way to talk to her, you might have a chance. Not a very good one, and Sokka would still kill you, but a chance is a chance!" She gave a wide smile, and Zuko found himself wondering how someone who lived on this miserably cold spit of land could ever be so happy. He shook his head, offering his best customer a weak smile._

"_It's not worth the trouble I'd cause," he begged off. "Besides, she's the Avatar, and I'm a trinket salesman. Does that seem like a good match to you, Lyra?"_

_The girl shrugged._

"_Beats me," she said. "You're nice enough, but Katara can be mean to boys when she wants to be. You should have seen the last guy who tried to propose to her—she sent him tumbling out the front door on a sheet of ice before Sokka had even thrown his boomerang at him!"_

_Lyra doubled over in a fit of laughter at her story, and Zuko smiled despite himself. The girl had a point, all right... Katara had more spine in her than most of the Fire Nation aristocracy combined. _

_But the longer he thought about that, the faster his smile faded, replaced by a thought that darkened Zuko's mood considerably: if _Katara_ of all people was the new Avatar, it would make conquering the Southern Water Tribe much, much harder if it ever came to that._

"_Lee? You okay in there?"_

_Zuko nodded distractedly at the question, gripping the handles of his cart and lifting its base up above the layer of snow that had fallen around it. Tilting the large contraption back on its wheels, he began to move it forward at a trudge. _

"_I'm going to see who else wants what I'm selling," the prince said in farewell to Lyra, waving his hand behind him as he walked away._

"_See you around, Lee!" the girl called after him. "Don't be late next week!"_

"Zuko? Zuko, wake up; we're almost there. Colonel Shinu says he can see the Southern Water Tribe's boundary torches from here with a telescope."

The prince mumbled sleepily as his mother's voice pulled him awake, the last pieces of the dreamed memory fading from his mind. He forced himself awake as he saw his mother holding something out to him. Blinking a few times, he saw the black shape resolve itself into a necklace made of smooth obsidian pearls strung together, chased with flecks of ruby that had been melted into the stones.

It was beautiful, had clearly cost a small fortune to make, and Zuko had no idea what it was supposed to be for.

"What's that?" he asked blearily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and Ursa smiled.

"It's a betrothal necklace, Zuko," his mother explained indulgently. "You told me we would need one of these, remember?"

"I was being hypothetical!" the prince shot back, a little more defensive than he'd wanted to sound. Ursa laughed, and a thought struck Zuko as he accepted the necklace and looked down at it.

"I didn't tell you about that until we were already aboard," he said quietly. "How did you make this?"

Ursa's smile widened, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

"I thought we might need something of the sort," she answered, "so I brought along some obsidian with me from the treasury when we left. The rubies came from here," she continued, gesturing with a wave of her hand to the tiara that rested delicately on her head, the jewel sockets on it conspicuously empty. "And, as it happens, Colonel Shinu was apprenticed as a jeweler in his younger days, before he joined the military. The coal furnace on this boat is larger than most, so it was more than hot enough to do some melting and re-forging. We had to idle on open water for a little while because of all the smoke it was making, but I'd say it was worth it. Wouldn't you?"

Zuko let the smooth, cool stone slide across his hands as he listened, watching in fascination as the sunlight played off the black and made the red strands melted in to the stone glint like tiny flames.

"It's beautiful," he breathed, looking up at his mother with admiration. "You're amazing, mother."

Ursa smiled warmly and gave a small curtsy.

"Thank you, my Prince," she said. "We aim to please."

Before Zuko could reply, the gruff voice of Colonel Shinu called down from the deck of the small boat.

"We've arrived, my Lady; Prince," he said. "You should come up at your earliest convenience."

Zuko stood up off of his cot and gave his mother a long hug, letting the tension ease slowly out of his chest.

"You'll do fine," Ursa whispered encouragingly. "Remember, we don't have to put forward a formal proposal if the mood seems off—we just need to state our case and make the Chieftain aware that we know his daughter is the Avatar. That's all."

Zuko wanted to say something about how he was sure Katara would appreciate being gang-pressed into a marriage of convenience just as much as he did, but he bit his tongue and nodded. Stepping out of the embrace, he slipped the necklace into one of his robe's pockets and smiled.

"I'm ready."

* * *

The two men sat in general Ozai's private quarters, nursing cups of plum wine and an ever-deepening silence. Eventually one of them could hold his tongue no longer, putting his ceramic cup down on the hardwood table between them with enough force to send a dull _thud_ echoing through the chamber.

"I'm tired of waiting, General," Commander Zhao said, with far more force than his station formally allowed him. "Every day we sit on our hands here is a day the eclipse draws closer, and you still haven't told me your brilliant plan for stealing Ba Sing Se!"

Ozai weathered Zhao's impertinence with an icy smile, his hard eyes staring down the commander until the other man had settled into a submissive silence.

"Just because I have not shared my plans with you, that does not mean they don't exist, Commander," Ozai countered calmly. "And your outburst just now only proves that my reluctance to include you in them was well-founded."

Zhao said nothing, his face torn between shame and anger as Ozai let the silence hang in the air for a few heartbeats before breaking it again.

"Rest assured," Ozai continued, taking a measured sip of his wine, "that when the eclipse occurs, Ba Sing Se will be ready to fall... the Avatar's sudden resurgence is of little concern to me. And she will be even less of a hindrance if, by some minor miracle, Zuko actually manages to woo and wed her. That would only make her easier to remove, in the long term.

"Regardless of the outcome of Azula's little game, however," Ozai finished, his eyes bleeding cold, calculating menace, "Ba Sing Se will be ours in time. When that day comes, my brother's reign on the throne of the Fire Nation will be at an end. I will be crowned Fire Lord—as it was always meant to be."

Zhao raised a skeptical eyebrow at the General's confidence.

"What of Lu Ten?"

Ozai's lips curled again, this time into a cruel smirk.

"Accidents happen, Commander," he answered, finishing off his wine with a final sip and setting the cup down gently on the wooden table.

"Even to Crown Princes."

* * *

**...**

**...  
**

**A/N: **First off, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to review the previous chapter: **Copper Kestrel, PastaSentient, Kyubbi-Sama, Ninjadude853, XrhiaX, ToastWeaselofDOOM, ArrayePL, kayleigh-ahs, Sammy1997, **the anonymous **janedoe401, blekmedelninjan, **and **badkidoh.** You guys and gals are all awesome; your feedback and kind words were most encouraging indeed.

I'd also like to add that this chapter marks the beginning of a _weekly update schedule._ Every Saturday, at some point during the day (to be determined by when I get up in the morning, probably), I'm going to post up another chapter of this story. That should keep the good times rolling for at least a few months, and I apologize in advance for any particularly rage-inducing cliffhangers.

But since I'm going to be doing that, I figure it's only fair to give all of you a teaser of the chapter to come next week: Lu Ten and Azula get closer to finding the girl who routed Zhao's platoon, and Ursa and Zuko meet with the leaders of the Southern Water Tribe.

Thanks to all of you who've continued to read this story, and I hope to see you again next time!

**-Jazz**


	3. Embassies

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 3: **Embassies

* * *

The two cloaked figures made their way towards the gates of Gaoling on foot, having tied up their mounts a mile back down the road.

"Skulking around like miserable peasants is completely undignified, cousin," Azula groused. "Remind me why I let you talk me into the stealth approach?"

Lu Ten chuckled. "Because we're trying to find someone who laid waste to an entire platoon of our soldiers," he answered the princess. "And because when it comes to tactics, I'm always right," he added with a smirk, earning him a cuff on the side of his head that he let make contact.

"Although, to be perfectly honest with you," Lu Ten said thoughtfully as he looked ahead of them towards the plain village appearing on the horizon, "I'm not entirely sure why Zhao was so hell-bent on capturing this place. Apart from the concentration of rich people, I suppose," he mused, thinking of the immense wealth possessed by old aristocrats like the Bei Fong family.

"He probably thought a few rebels would be simple to crush, gaining him some easy recognition back home," Azula opined. "He learned his lesson, though. And proved once again why naval officers shouldn't be in command of ground troops," the princess finished with disdain. "It pains me that he's even allowed to sit in on our councils—the man is a fool."

"A fool who has far more practical battle experience than you, cousin," Lu Ten admonished her gently. "He may be rash, true... and more than a little short-sighted, but he's earned his place at the table. And as for naval officers commanding land forces," he continued, "you know that every soldier who goes through officer training gets extensive preparation to handle both land and sea conflicts."

"All the more reason why his abject failure here was so inexcusable," Azula countered sharply, and Lu Ten let the matter drop with a sigh. They were almost at the gates of the city now, anyway; it was a good excuse as any to end an argument he knew he wasn't going to win.

The pair reached the entrance to Gaoling and walked into the village, which up-close was much larger than it had appeared from a distance. It was a market day: the streets were lined with vendors tending to their portable stalls, hawking everything from gardening tools to protective charms. Lu Ten took in a deep breath and smiled, basking in the atmosphere.

"I'm glad my father decided to have you come with me," he said to Azula. "This isn't something you get to experience living in the palace all the time."

"I feel so deprived," the princess said dryly, forcing a beggar out of her way with a sharp elbow to his throat. "I hope whoever this girl is, she refuses to come quietly."

"Don't get your hopes up," Lu Ten replied flatly. "Even if she doesn't, I'm not going to let you burn this place down."

"As if anyone would miss it," Azula grumbled, but said nothing else on the subject.

"I heard rumors once of an underground Earthbending circuit here in Gaoling," Lu Ten broached as the pair made their way through the main market thoroughfare. "If we're lucky, it's still running. Any Earthbender strong enough to face our armies would definitely be strong enough to win some money on the side with their skill."

Azula shrugged.

"Perhaps," she allowed, "but that's still useless without a way to get in…" the princess trailed off as she looked up to see a sign for 'Master Yu's Earthbending Academy'. "Ah," she said. "This might be of some help to us, cousin."

"I agree," Lu Ten replied, cycling through possible approaches in his head before coming up with a better idea. "How do you want to handle this?"

"There're bound to be some rich brats in there who would know the ins and outs of an illegal fighting competition," the princess explained. "All we have to do is convince one of them to get us entry— and if your theory is right, the Earthbender we're looking for will walk right into our hands."

"My thoughts exactly," Lu Ten said approvingly. "Looks like the lesson is still going on, though—how about a snack while we wait for it to end?"

"What?" Azula asked sharply. "Are you serious? We just finished lunch an hour ago!"

"Hey, I come by it honestly," Lu Ten said defensively, raising his palms outward. "Just look at my father."

"Keep eating like a pig and one day you _will_ look like him," Azula countered, and Lu Ten frowned.

"That's not what I… oh; very clever, Princess," he said begrudgingly, while his cousin smirked. "Fine, you can go hungry if you want—I'm grabbing something."

Lu Ten made his way back into the throng, stopping at the first food stall he saw. It was a fish vendor, pedaling fresh fish from the southern coast. The jars with the new catch smelled off, though, so Lu Ten went for the cured fish jerky instead. Tossing the vendor a silver piece more than he owed, the crown prince returned the nod of thanks.

"Hey, listen," he whispered, leaning over the stall's makeshift counter. "Do you know if the Earth Rumble tournament is running this time of year?"

The vendor shook his head, scoffing, and Lu Ten's hopes fell.

"You don't want to mess around with them," the vendor said lowly. "Bunch of hooligans, if you ask me. Every time that tournament gets to the end, it draws every brawl-hungry low-life from one-hundred miles around here to Gaoling. Just a few days ago another vendor got knocked over by a bunch of thugs for demanding that they pay him—disgraceful."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lu Ten replied sincerely. "But my cousin and I heard that some of the best Earthbenders in the whole Earth Kingdom come here to compete, and she really wanted to see what they could do. Are you sure there's no way to watch the tournament?"

"Oh, there're ways in, all right," the vendor answered, some of the bitterness leaving his voice. "Friends and family of the contestants get in free, but if you're not one of them you'll need a ticket."

The crown prince's hopes rose again at that, and he was doubly glad to have made this little detour.

"And where might I be able to find one of those?" he asked, only to be met with a shrug.

"Beats me," the vendor replied dismissively, shaking his head. "Like I said, I don't bother with that sort of thing— and neither should you, if you want my advice."

"Fair enough," Lu Ten acquiesced with a short nod. "Thanks for the fish."

The crown prince sighed as he made his way through the crowd again and back towards the academy, the spring gone from his step. He needed to find somewhere to get tickets to this tournament, but the last people he wanted to deal with were shifty, back-room bookies.

"Just my luck," Lu Ten muttered, kicking at a stray stone in his path and trying to keep his temper in check. To fail here would be quite the setback, giving both Ozai and Zhao leverage over him. And he couldn't prove it, but he was almost certain the two of them had been up to something —one of the palace servants had told him that he'd seen Zhao paying late-night visits to Ozai's private chambers with increasing frequency lately.

And whatever they were plotting, it was probably something treasonous.

"Oh, there you are," Azula's voice called over, pulling him from his musings. The crown prince shook his head, pushing the thoughts of Ozai's machinations back into a dark corner of his mind. "While you were off stuffing yourself," the princess continued, "I got us a way into Earth Rumble VI."

"Really?" Lu Ten asked, surprised. "How'd you manage that?"

"A girl has her ways," Azula said slyly, giving Lu Ten the impression that he didn't want to know the details. She gave them anyway. "I talked to a pair of simpletons as they left the academy—apparently, one of them has a brother who works as the doorman for the tournament, and he's offered to get us in."

Lu Ten offered a round of polite applause, before reaching into the pouch at his waist for a piece of fish jerky.

"Nice work," he commended. "What did it cost you?"

"Just a gold piece to cover the cost of the tickets," Azula answered easily. "I assume he was scalping me, but the day I waste my breath haggling with a commoner is the day I kill myself."

Lu Ten shook his head and finished his piece of jerky, saying nothing.

"The first match starts at sundown," Azula continued. "Let's find somewhere to stay until then—I'm exhausted."

"Works for me," Lu Ten conceded. "There should be quieter inns on the far side of town, between the main district and the wealthy area on the outskirts. Let's check there first."

"Lead the way, Crown Prince," Azula said with a nod, and the pair set off.

"So, in your opinion," Lu Ten broached after a few moments, "do you think Zuko will be able to pull it off?"

"What? The marriage proposal?" the princess asked, and her cousin nodded. She gave a small shrug. "Who knows. I don't really care either way; I just wanted him out of the palace for a while. The whole courtship ceremony will probably take a week at least, and this girl being the Avatar won't hurry it up at all. Knowing Zuzu, though, his total lack of subtlety will probably trip him up sooner rather than later."

"I don't know," Lu Ten countered, his voice contemplative. "I've been on a few raids with your brother, and I get the feeling there's a lot more to him than he lets on—even to me."

"Really?" Azula said, arching a slim eyebrow at that. "I'm surprised he'd conceal anything emotional, let alone from you. He used to go crying to mother if he so much as stubbed his toe, back when we were kids."

Lu Ten smiled.

"I seem to remember someone having a crying fit when their friend Mai 'stole their boyfriend' a few years ago," the Prince replied. Azula bristled underneath her cloak, but only someone who'd been looking for it would have caught the reaction; a heartbeat later, she'd continued her stride without missing another step.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Azula said stiffly. "If Mai chooses to waste her time on that brainless aristocrat, what business is that of mine?"

"None, of course," Lu Ten said calmly, stifling his smirk. Even now, two years after the fact, mentioning that kid Chan's name in Azula's presence was a guaranteed way to get a face-full of blue flame. He felt sorry for his cousin, but he could never say that to her face. "As far as your brother is concerned, though," the crown prince continued, smoothly steering the conversation back towards its previous topic, "I think he might surprise us all, in the end. He just needs time to come into his own."

Azula chuckled scornfully at the notion that someone like her brother could possibly amount to being anything more than a hereditary general or admiral.

"He's had sixteen years to prove himself, cousin," she parried, "and he still hasn't fought a single Agni Kai."

Lu Ten laughed openly at that, and the princess' eyes narrowed.

"What's so funny?" she demanded, and Lu Ten shook his head.

"I'll tell you later," he said, gesturing up ahead of them. "Here we are."

The inn was a humble building. It was out of the way and affordable, however, which suited Lu Ten and Azula's needs just fine. The crown prince paid for a room with two beds and thanked the innkeeper, his stomach rumbling loudly when the woman mentioned that supper would be served in a few hours.

"We'll be there," he said immediately. Azula just shook her head, muttering something insulting that Lu Ten didn't care to decipher. "Thank you for letting us know."

"My pleasure," the woman said with a short bow. "Please enjoy your stay."

The two disguised Fire Nation royals climbed up the stairs to the second floor, making their way to the room and going inside. It was spacious enough, with a small balcony on the far side covered by a screen of decorative tapestry. Lu Ten set down their packs and rolled his shoulders with a sigh, glad to be free of the burden. He kicked off his shoes and collapsed down onto the closest bed with a casually undignified flop.

"Wake me when they call for dinner," he said hazily, already sounding half-asleep, "if you would be so kind…"

Azula settled down on the other bed and sighed, glad to feel something soft beneath her after a long journey away from home. She rested her head against the pillows and closed her eyes, trying to drift off to sleep.

But it didn't work. All she could think about was her cousin's enigmatic laughter when she'd mentioned Zuko's lack of experience fighting an Agni Kai, and the cryptic promise that he would tell her about it later. Azula hated secrets that she didn't know, and something she didn't know about her _brother_ was just that much more insufferable.

What was he keeping from her?

Frustrated, the princess got off the bed and took a series of calming breaths, beginning the motions of a basic Firebending _kata_. She was resolved to take her mind off of this annoying, ultimately pointless mystery: if there was something Zuko thought he had up his sleeve that would give him an edge over her, she would just get better to compensate.

Azula had sworn years ago that no one would ever beat her in a duel, and she intended to uphold that oath—especially where little Zuzu was concerned.

* * *

"Are you sure, my Lady?"

"Absolutely positive, Colonel," Ursa said with a smile and a calm nod. "We'll be fine on our own; there's nothing to fear here. Besides, something this delicate could easily be ruined by a show of force."

"I understand, my Lady," Colonel Shinu said with a formal bow. "If you need anything, just shout and I'll come running."

"I know," Ursa said, her smile widening. "You're one of our most loyal soldiers, Colonel—why haven't you ever accepted a promotion, if I may ask?"

The Colonel's mouth twitched up into a small, rare smile, and a faint trace of proud red colored his cheeks.

"I haven't made this very public, my Lady," he said quietly, "but I've just recently become a father. I'd be honored by a higher station in the chain of command, but it would take too much time away from my wife and son."

"I understand," Ursa replied knowingly, glancing over at Zuko. "At least let me petition my brother-in-law to give you a small bonus, in recognition for your taking this voyage with us."

"You are too kind, my Lady," Shinu said with a bow that was even lower than his previous one. "I am undeserving of such generosity."

"Nonsense," Ursa admonished the Colonel gently, placing a hand briefly on his shoulder before pulling it away. She looked over at Zuko again, seriousness in her eyes this time. "Shall we, my Prince?"

Zuko swallowed and nodded, forcing the final, fleeting jitters from his system. He was a prince of the Fire Nation, even if he wore no crown. He was the veteran of more than his fair share of battles; his hands had taken lives. What would it say about him if he were unsettled by a girl?

The two of them disembarked, clad in simple black cloaks to keep their identities hidden until the proper moment. The boat they'd traveled in was relatively small and unmarked, its smoke trail kept to a minimum in order to minimize forewarning of their approach.

And yet, despite all of that preparation and caution, it was still impossible to come to the Southern Water Tribe's harbor in a foreign vessel without attracting a small crowd of curious onlookers. Zuko only partially succeeded in biting back a snarl, but Ursa was unfazed by the informal welcoming committee. She scanned the crowd and eventually found whom she was searching for: an old woman near the back of the throng, who was acting just inconspicuous enough to stand out. Lowering her hood, Ursa waited for the Fire Nation iconography on her remaining jewelry to silence the crowd before speaking.

"Matriarch Kanna," she said with all the regal politeness that years living in the Fire Nation court had lent her, "would you please be so kind as to inform your son that he has visitors?"

Kanna chuckled.

"I'm not old enough to have earned that title yet, child," the old woman said, fondness cutting the edge off of her words. "Talk to me again when I have great-grandchildren. Until then, Kanna will do nicely."

"As you wish, Matriarch," Ursa answered with a teasing smile, and Kanna huffed.

"Some things never change," she grumbled, before looking around at the confused crowd. "Don't you gossips have work to be doing?" she said sternly. "Go on; get!"

The crowd scattered to the four winds, leaving the three of them alone on the smoothly-packed snow.

"Come on," Kanna said with a wave of her hand, "I'll bring you over to Hakoda's home."

"Thank you very much, Lady Kanna," Ursa said with a bow, and the old woman chuckled again despite herself.

"Better," she said. "We'll get that stiffness out of you yet, child. Oh," she breathed in surprise as Zuko lowered his hood and bowed in kind, "what have we here? Our humble traveling merchant has moved up in life, it would seem."

Zuko broke off his formal gesture to stare up at the old woman, his mouth opened partway in shock.

"You knew?" he asked in disbelief, and Kanna gave a full laugh.

"Of course I knew, Prince," she said easily as she turned and began to walk away from the harbor, her two guests falling in step beside her. "I wasn't born yesterday. Even if you change the color of your eyes, you still have your mother's face—and her kindness. Nothing can change that."

Zuko bit his cheek, feeling anger and shame welling up within him. He felt foolish; even his best effort at espionage had been seen right through—by an old woman.

"Calm down, Zuko," his mother said gently, laying a hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "There's nothing wrong with losing a battle to Kanna. She's one of the only people I've ever seen go toe-to-toe with your uncle successfully, after all."

"What?" the prince asked, his anger completely erased by surprise at the revelation that the Fire Lord had ever visited this place himself. "Uncle came here?"

"He did indeed," Kanna answered, her voice tinged with laughter. "It was about thirty years ago, shortly after his son Lu Ten had been born. Iroh came here to study our techniques, and your mother accompanied him."

"And he probably would have stayed here," Ursa continued, "if not for Ba Sing Se."

"Ah, yes," the old woman replied, her voice shifting towards melancholy. "The siren-song of glory—the one sound all men cannot resist.

"But enough reminiscing," she said briskly, shaking her head. "The past is the past, and that is what it will always be. You're here, young Prince," Kanna finished with a twinkle in her eye as the trio came to the front of Hakoda's sizable dwelling, "to shape the future."

The old woman thumped her fist a few times on the wall beside the canvas curtain to announce her presence, before parting the barrier and walking in. She motioned to Ursa and Zuko to join her, and they did.

The first thing Zuko noticed was that the house was even bigger on the inside than it had seemed from the outside, accommodating a good twenty people in its central space with some standing room on the fringes. For all the things he'd heard about the Southern Water Tribe being humbler than its Northern sister society, Zuko was left wondering how those rumors had even started. In its own way, this place was a small throne room.

And as was customary in any throne room, the royalty held court from a position back against the far wall, looking over the assembly with an unmistakable air of authority. Hakoda and his wife Kya sat side-by-side, while their son Sokka was next to his father and their daughter Katara sat by her mother's side. Apart from the royal quartet, Zuko's eyes didn't see anyone else in the room he recognized as they swept over the collected water tribesmen and women—until he found Lyra standing by the wall on the left side of the room, looking at him like she was staring down a ghost. He gave her a small smile and she coughed awkwardly, drawing odd looks from several of her companions.

"Chief Hakoda, Lady Kya," Kanna said with the best formal curtsy as her old bones could manage. "May I present Lady Ursa of the Fire Nation, sister-in-law of Fire Lord Iroh; and her son, Prince Zuko."

"You may," Kya answered for her husband with an even nod. Ursa and Kya locked eyes, and for a heartbeat the air in the room was so tense that Zuko felt his hands flex unconsciously at his sides. Had something happened between them in the past, when his mother had been here with uncle? What secret had she been keeping from him?

But then Kya smiled, and Zuko felt himself let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding.

"Ursa," she said with light reproach, "it's been far too long since the last time you were here. You could have at least told us you were coming; we would have prepared for your arrival."

Zuko's mother shook her head in polite refusal, taking a seat on a cushion that had been brought over by an attendant.

"No need," Ursa said calmly. "Apart from the unnecessary drain that would have put on your food stocks, this wasn't a trip we wanted to make very public."

"Oh?" Hakoda spoke up for the first time, his voice hard as he raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And why is that?"

Zuko's mother smiled; some things never did change. But she pushed the reminiscence from her expression a moment later, her face serious.

"I'm not going to mince words with either of you," she said to both Kya and Hakoda. "We know that your daughter is the Avatar, reborn."

The silence that fell on the room was absolute, shrouding the entire dwelling in thick tension. It was a few long moments before Hakoda broke it, his voice even sharper than it had been earlier.

"And how did you come across this information," he said pointedly, "if I might ask?"

Zuko risked a quick look over at Lyra, who was an ashen shade of pale. Katara, he noticed, had also tensed considerably, looking as though she was torn between the equally powerful desires to flee the room in terror or fight to the bitter end to make sure the two Fire Nation royalty didn't leave the room alive. The prince cleared his throat, taking the floor.

"The man from the Northern Tribe who conducted the Test of the Relics made the unfortunate mistake of sailing through the patrol path of the Southern Raiders on his way home," Zuko lied, hoping the conviction in his voice would carry him through. "They questioned him, and anyone with half a brain could've put the pieces together."

Hakoda shook his head in frustration, and once more the atmosphere in the room returned to some semblance of normal.

"I told them Pakku should have come instead," he said, sighing. "But what's done is done, I suppose, and here you are. So what now, Ursa? Have you come to take our daughter away from us?"

Kya gave her husband a sharp glance of rebuke, but Ursa bowed her head in humility.

"I can understand your concern, Chieftain," she said solemnly. "I know that the history of my family does not speak well to our relationship with the Avatar, but I want you to know that Iroh is committed to changing that, with all of his heart.

"But even if your daughter is the Avatar," Ursa continued, "I ask you to please believe me when I tell you that's not how I see her. I know what it's like to fear losing your child," she finished, her voice tensing up with palpable emotion, "and I swear to you on our friendship that I would never put anyone through that. Ever."

Even Zuko was taken aback by the rawness of the declaration, and its force melted through whatever apprehension might have clung in the air. Kya nodded, giving her old friend a smile that only a mother could make.

"I know you wouldn't," she answered, before sighing and taking a beat to recompose herself. "But if that's not what you're here for, then why did you come all this way?"

Ursa took a breath to settle herself in kind and smiled, her eyes shining with something Zuko couldn't quite understand.

"I've come with a proposal for you," she said. "One that concerns my son—and your daughter."

"Really, now?" Kya countered, her voice edged with slyness. She purposefully ignored Katara's gradual mortification as her daughter began to understand what exactly was being suggested. And from the looks of things, Zuko was barely holding it together himself. "And what exactly would we have to gain from this proposal of yours?" she pressed. "I can see what the Fire Nation would get out of an alliance, but why should we let you use our daughter like a bargaining chip?"

Ursa grimaced inwardly at the bluntness of Kya's phrasing, but she did have a fair enough point. Squaring her shoulders, she pressed back.

"Three reasons," she said evenly, before holding up one slender finger. "First: protection. As much as Fire Lord Iroh is determined to break away from the violence that defined his father and grandfather, there are others who do not share that same desire. Creating this bond between our families would—"

"Would draw her right into the heart of the rat-viper's nest you call a palace," Hakoda cut her off, ignoring his wife's affronted look at the accusation. "How would that make her any safer?"

Zuko felt anger spark up in him, and the words came to his lips long before he had a chance to stop them from spilling out.

"If you think I couldn't keep her safe—" he began, interrupted in turn by his mother placing a firm hand on his thigh.

"Peace, Zuko," she said levelly, never taking her eyes off of Hakoda. "As I was saying," she resumed as if she'd never been cut off, "protection. Bringing Katara to the palace would ensure that no one tried to make an attempt on her life. Regardless of how much some in the Fire Nation might want the Avatar dead, no one would be stupid enough to risk their political and financial livelihood on it. The walls of the royal palace are known to be quite thin, indeed."

Kya nodded, satisfied. "That makes sense," she allowed. "You mentioned three things, though. What are the other two?"

"The opportunities to learn both Firebending," Ursa said, holding up a second finger, "and Airbending," she finished, holding up a third finger.

"The Airbenders are all dead," Katara said, breaking her silence with bitterness that was unmistakable. "Sozin and Azulon saw to that. How could I possibly learn Airbending from the Fire Nation?"

The prince flinched from hearing his ancestors and country being spoken of with such anger. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea, after all…

"As regrettable as the slaughter of the Air Nomads by the Fire Nation was," Ursa answered, her tone calm and placating, "we did at least preserve most of the archives of knowledge we found in their temples—including their scrolls that illustrate various Airbending forms."

There was a beat of hesitant silence that hung in the air for a few tense moments, before the chieftain swept it aside with a tired shake of his head.

"Even I can't argue with that," Hakoda said, his agreement surprising the majority of the people in the room. "It is the responsibility and duty of the Avatar to achieve the understanding of— and mastery over—all four elements. To stand in the way of that for selfish reasons would go against the betterment of the entire world."

"Dad—!" Katara exclaimed, her eyes wide, but a look from her father stilled her objection as soon as it had started.

"However," Hakoda continued, his expression resolute as he locked eyes with Ursa first, before shifting his gaze over to Zuko, "I won't just force my only daughter to sign her freedom away to a marriage of convenience.

"Here is my offer: Prince Zuko will stay here with us for a week, as our honored guest. At the end of that week, it will fall to Katara to make a decision, one way or the other.

"And that decision," he finished stonily, fixing Zuko with a hard stare, "will be final. Is that in any way unclear, or unacceptable?"

"No, sir," Zuko said stiffly, bowing his head in acquiescence. "We understand each other perfectly."

"Good," Hakoda said gruffly. "Then this audience is finished. Mother, please see the Lady Ursa back to her ship."

"Of course," Kanna said with a nod, parting the curtain of the dwelling once more. Ursa rose gracefully to her feet, accepting the embrace Kya had come forward to give her.

"I'm glad you came back to us, if only for a short time," Kya whispered to her. "I hope that our next meeting will be soon, and under happy circumstances."

"So do I, my friend," Ursa agreed with a smile as she took a step backwards. "Until then, farewell."

Ursa turned and left the tent, followed closely behind by Zuko.

"A week?" the prince exclaimed as soon as they were out of earshot, dismayed. "A whole _week_?"

"Yes, Zuko," his mother said, clearly amused by his discomfort, "a whole week. I'm sure you'll survive."

"I'm not," the prince countered glumly. "Did you hear Katara in there? She sounded like she wanted to tear my head off with her bare hands!"

"Well, I can't really blame her," Ursa said soothingly. "Think about it from her perspective, sweetheart. This whole thing _is_ more than a little sudden... and if you're nervous, imagine how Katara feels."

Zuko chewed it over for the rest of the way back to the ship— and by the time his mother turned to bid him goodbye, he'd mellowed somewhat.

"I guess you're right," he said grudgingly, and his mother gave him a warm smile and a kiss on the forehead.

"We mothers always are," Ursa said teasingly. "Don't ever forget it."

"I won't."

"Use this week to your advantage, Zuko," his mother called back as she walked up the plank towards where Colonel Shinu was waiting to receive her. "Get to know Katara a little better—you might be surprised by what you find."

"I'll try!" the prince called after her, waiting until she was out of sight before letting his face fall. "I don't think it'll do much good, though," he griped, kicking at a mound of snow. Kanna had disappeared halfway through the walk back to the harbor, leaving Zuko with only his thoughts and the bitter cold to keep him company.

"Ugh, why did I even come here?" he spat out at the wind. "Everybody on this island hates me!"

"Not everyone."

The unexpected answer caused Zuko's head to whip around so hard he almost hurt himself, and the prince saw Lyra's glinting gray eyes peering back at him.

"Thanks for not ratting me out back there," she said, flashing a brilliant smile. "I was real worried for a second."

"Don't mention it," Zuko said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of licorice he'd brought along with him. He tossed it to Lyra, the girl snatching it out of the air with a laugh. The laugh was cut short, however, when she caught sight of the necklace Zuko had pulled out of his other pocket.

"What is _that_?" she asked in an awed voice, her eyes wide. "It's gorgeous."

"This?" the prince said, holding out the linked obsidian pearls that flickered with streaks of ruby red. "It's a betrothal necklace my mother had made on the way over here," he explained. "I don't know how much good it'll do me, though—your cousin hates my guts."

Lyra shook her head firmly.

"Katara doesn't hate anyone," she said. "She's just freaked out right now. Some old dude shows up out of nowhere and tells you you're the Avatar, and then some Prince drops out of the sky and wants to marry you? Tell me that wouldn't put you on edge too, Zuko."

"You sound like my mother," Zuko said wearily, but he was smiling all the same. Lyra grinned.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said. "Your mother's a very kind woman."

"Yeah," the prince said softly, already missing her, "she is."

Lyra frowned at the change in attitude, before she had an idea and her face brightened again.

"Come on," she said, taking Zuko by the arm. "You look like you could use something warm to drink, and my gramma taught me how to make a great cup of seal-tea."

"Seal-tea?" the prince repeated, confused. "What's that?"

"You've never had it before?" Lyra asked, shocked. "How is that even possible? It's the best thing ever!"

Zuko bit back a reply about being from the Fire Nation and not from some backwater where seals were considered a staple food-crop, letting himself be pulled along by Lyra's energetic stride.

Maybe his mother was right about this, after all. Zuko decided would give this place the week they'd asked for... and if they shoved him aside just because he was from the Fire Nation, that was their own problem.

* * *

**...**

**... ...  
**

**A/N: **And there it is, Chapter 3. I know it's still Friday in some parts of the world, but since I'll be in a car for most of tomorrow I didn't want to risk updating too late in the day on Saturday. I hope the chapter was worth the wait; I know it was mostly set-up and character moments, but ideally all of that dialogue was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write. It did make me miss Ursa and Kya even more, though :( ... but they'll both be getting some more screen-time on down the line, so at least there's that. Huzzah for AUs.

And now, it's time for the thank-yous to new reviewers last chapter: **qweenseeker, HakushoRurouni, Tenshi no Mugen, Sweetness22, yourdyingwish, CocoNuGGeTx **(who dropped back-to-back reviews like a boss),** Lady Krystalyn **and **Foxfire Inari.**

I've honestly been amazed at the amount of reviews this story has gotten so far, considering how far out on the fringe a story like this tends to be. I can't thank all of you enough, both new readers and old, for continuing to spend time writing up feedback. It's the best.

Whew. If you read through all of that, here's the tease for next week's chapter! Lu Ten and Azula have another heart-to-heart as they prepare for Earth Rumble VI. Zuko learns about Lyra's past, and Sokka manages to turn a perfectly civil cup of seal-tea into a shouting match... some things never change, indeed.

All the best, and see you next week,

**- Jazz  
**


	4. Old Wounds

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 4: **Old Wounds

* * *

"Mmmmm," Lu Ten exhaled appreciatively as he leaned over the hot bowl of stew and let the aroma waft up to him. "This smells delicious; thank you very much for the meal."

"You're too kind," the innkeeper said with a smile, her cheeks dimpling slightly. "It's nice just to have some company, to be honest. Not many people come through here, even when that tournament's going on."

The woman bowed and left the pair to their dinner, busying herself with tidying up the adjacent main room. Azula took a spoonful of the stew and sipped, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

"That's… actually quite good," she said appreciatively. "I keep trying to talk the cooks at home into roasting our turtle-ducks into a stew like this, but Zuko is too attached to them."

Lu Ten chuckled. "He always has had a soft-spot for animals," the crown prince said. Noticing the searching look his cousin was giving him over her spoon, he finished up his spoonful and sighed.

"What is it?" he asked. "I can't read your mind, you know."

"Earlier," the princess said after finishing a sip of her soup, "you laughed when I said that Zuko hadn't had any experience fighting an Agni Kai. What do you know that I don't?"

Lu Ten smiled slyly, letting the question hang for a few seconds while he ate another spoonful of soup. As he saw Azula get more and more agitated by his silence, the crown prince's smile widened.

"I can't believe it," he said at last. "You're afraid of Zuko."

"I am not," Azula snapped back quickly, her voice sharp and venomous. "I'm not afraid of anyone, least of all my brother."

Lu Ten's smile vanished, and as his eyes darkened Azula suddenly found that she wasn't looking at her lackadaisical, easy-going cousin. Instead, he was once more every bit the hardened warrior; a veteran of the greatest siege ever committed by the Fire Nation.

"Everyone has their fears, Azula," he said flatly. "Everyone. Denying that is worse than stupid; it can get you killed."

"Don't be ridiculous," the princess said defensively, taking another sip to hide her growing nervousness at the shift in atmosphere. "Fear is a weapon to be controlled, and wielded. It can't harm those who dominate it."

Lu Ten was silent for several beats, his eyes impossibly darkening even further. His gaze was now cold and ruthless, and Azula was having trouble holding it.

"Have you ever taken a life, Azula?" Lu Ten asked quietly at last, the soft tone of his voice creating such a sharp discord with the look on his face that his cousin almost faltered. Almost.

"No."

"Have you ever been in a situation where your life has honestly, truly been in jeopardy?"

"No."

Lu Ten smiled, the expression at once icy and profoundly sad.

"Then you know nothing about fear, cousin," he said, his voice still hushed. "And for your sake, I hope you never have the occasion to learn that lesson. Taking the life of another, even in self-defense—it changes you. You cross a line that you can never step back over. Your brother crossed that line before he was ready for it, his head filled with visions of honor and glory… and it almost destroyed him.

"To look into the eyes of a dying man," Lu Ten finished as he raised his bowl to his lips and drank in the rest of his stew, "to see all of their regrets, failed hopes and shattered dreams laid completely bare for a few brief seconds… it is the most terrifying thing anyone could possibly witness."

The words hit Azula like a hammer-blow, forcing her into silence for several heartbeats as she mulled them over. She finished her meal instinctively, lost in thought. It was a point of view she'd never heard before, and had never expected to hear from someone like Lu Ten. Her father had seen more battles than her cousin, and Ozai had never spoken about a single shred of regret or pang of conscience—he had drummed into her that empathy was a weakness, and the very opposite of strength.

"Your father would probably disagree with that," the crown prince spoke into the silence, causing Azula to idly wonder if his earlier claim about not being clairvoyant was a lie. "He's made no secret of his contrary opinion. And, if I had to guess, that disagreement is going to boil over soon enough."

The conclusion remained unspoken, but both of them knew what that tipping point would lead to.

Civil war. Bloody, chaotic and ultimately ruinous, shattering the carefully-maintained structure Iroh had used to keep the balance between the nations during his reign as Fire Lord.

And ultimately, Azula had no doubt that she would wind up fighting her cousin if such war ever came to pass. Very likely, that fight would be to the death.

The next few minutes passed in a tense silence, as both of them worked to finish their bowls of soup. The need to do something to take their minds off of family politics trumped their mutual lack of an appetite.

"Whatever happens, though," Lu Ten said as he took his last bite, "I want you to know that I would never kill another member of my family."

_And that is why you would lose this war, cousin, _Azula thought, but kept it to herself.

"Come on," the crown prince continued, rising to his feet, "the sun is going to set soon; we should get going."

"I'm looking forward to this," Azula said, her voice edged with the vicious anticipation of a born fighter. "It's been far too long since my last worthwhile opponent."

Lu Ten made an offended noise in the back of his throat, his expression lined with mock-hurt.

"What does that make me, then?"

"Someone who took four years more than me to learn how to make lightning," the princess replied airily, the ominous mood of their earlier conversation left behind almost completely.

"And someone who will always be better than you with it," Lu Ten countered. "In the end, that's all that matters."

Azula shrugged.

"I'm sure," she said, "we'll be able to settle that argument soon enough."

Lu Ten flashed her a stony look as the pair left the inn, but she just smiled.

"Relax, I was joking," the princess said easily. "I _do_ have a sense of humor, you know."

Lu Ten tried to frown, but a smile still tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"You have an odd way of showing it," he said, "that's for sure."

"That much runs in the family," Azula replied. "Your father tells the worst puns in the history of creation."

Lu Ten's smile emerged in full at the jab.

"Worse than Zuko's?" he asked, and Azula's eyebrows creased into a frown.

"I'll get back to you on that," she said. "For the sake of my brain's long-term survival, that's not a question I'd like to ponder for any period of time."

Her cousin laughed.

"Fair enough."

* * *

The house was small and simple, with a stove in place of a hearth on the far wall heating up the main room. A couple of seal-skin rugs carpeted the floor, and a few plain wooden chairs ringed a table that dominated the central space. Zuko took a seat in one, while Lyra busied herself over the stove. She filled an earthenware pot with a selection of herbs, before adding what looked like seal blubber and bits of bone. A generous amount of water was poured in next, and then Lyra reached up to a shelf for a matchstick... but struggled to grip the box even on the tips of her toes.

"Here," Zuko said, getting up and walking over to the stove, "allow me."

Crouching down slightly, the prince made sure his mouth was level with the coals underneath the pot. Taking in a breath, he focused his _chi_ and blew out.

Lyra gasped softly as a small plume of flame rushed out from between Zuko's lips and caught on the coals, setting them aglow.

"There we are," he said with satisfaction, allowing himself a small smile at the look of wonder in the girl's eyes. "That should keep it going for a while."

"Wow," Lyra breathed. "That was cool. How'd you do that without burning your throat?"

"The same way you do any Firebending without burning yourself," Zuko said with a raised eyebrow. "Control. Using your _chi_ to create fire means that you control it, from the moment you create it to the moment you let it go."

"That sounds like fun," the girl replied, with a youthful innocence that brought a melancholy smile to the prince's face. "I wish I could Firebend. All I do is sit in on lessons and learn how to heal scrapes and cuts. It's so boring."

Zuko shook his head, returning to his seat as Lyra followed behind him and took the seat across from him.

"Don't think about it that way," he said with mild reproach. "Healing people—that's a gift to be treasured. Fire might bring warmth and life, but if it isn't controlled constantly it can just as easily bring destruction. That's the first lesson my teacher taught me."

Lyra nodded silently, and Zuko smiled to take the sting out of his words.

"That smells good," he said, sniffing the air tentatively. "How long does it take to brew?"

"Only a few minutes," Lyra answered, sighing as she leaned back in her chair and stretched, easing the tension of the afternoon meeting from her muscles. "So, you're a Prince?"

"Yeah," Zuko said, letting himself ease up a bit. The proposal had gone much better than he'd thought it would, thanks to his mother's negotiating skill. "I'm not the Crown Prince; that's my cousin, Lu Ten. But everyone still treats me like I'm a prince anyway, so I guess the title just kind of stuck."

"What's it like," Lyra asked, "living in a palace? Do you have servants to wait on you and stuff?"

Zuko nodded.

"We do," he said, "but it's not really that great. Because I'm technically ahead of my sister in line for the throne, I'm pretty sure she hates me. Politics ruins everything."

"I'm sure she doesn't _really_ hate you," Lyra said encouragingly. "Family sticks together, even when times are tough. That's what families are supposed to do, anyway," she finished, her voice turning slightly melancholic. Caught up in his own thoughts, the prince didn't notice the change in tone.

"I wish that was true," he replied. "Sometimes I'm not even sure why my parents married each other in the first place..."

Zuko paused, wondering why he was opening up so much to this girl. It felt odd, letting all of these emotions out to someone other than his mother for once. He'd tried opening himself up to Mai before, but she'd stayed closed to him, leaving the prince to wonder what it would take to loosen her up some…

And then she had left. Married off to that admiral's aristocratic brat of a son in order to ensure her father's political and financial position. It reminded Zuko uncomfortably of his own situation, the more he thought about it.

"Zuko? Are you all right?"

The prince blinked and looked over, finding Lyra standing next to him with a clay mug in her hands. She was holding it out to him, full of some steaming and rich-smelling liquid.

"Yeah," Zuko forced out, not entirely convinced by his own answer. "I'm fine. Did you strain out the bones?"

Lyra nodded, taking a ladle and filling up a mug of her own before sitting back down at the table.

"You strain everything out into a different pot before you pour it," she explained, before raising a curious eyebrow. "You know, for someone who doesn't make his own food, you seem to know a lot about it."

Zuko laughed, a genuine sound this time.

"I used to watch my mother make meals for us sometimes when I was a boy," he said. "She would tell the kitchen staff to take a day off every week, and made the food herself. I'd hover over her shoulder like an owl and take in everything I could." His amber eyes clouded over with melancholy at the memory, his mouth curving into a frown. "I miss her already," he said softly. "What am I even doing here?" he asked again, to no one in particular. "There's no way this ends well."

Lyra smiled, reaching over and taking one of Zuko's hands in her own.

"Not if you act like that, it won't," she said encouragingly. "Just relax, don't worry about it, and things will work out."

Zuko looked over at her strangely, taking a sip of the broth-like tea.

"Are you sure you're only twelve?" he asked. "You sound like my uncle."

Lyra laughed, her eyes bright and precocious.

"I give pep-talks to Katara's brother all the time," she said. "He's just as hopeless as you—you'd like him."

"I thought you said he would break my neck if I tried to get close to his sister?" Zuko reminded her, and Lyra's smile turned sheepish.

"Well…" she equivocated, until a knock on the outside wall interrupted her.

"Lyra!" an impatient voice called out. "Can I come in?"

The girl's smile turned mischievous again, and for a moment Zuko thought he was looking at his sister.

"Looks like we're about to find out what Sokka thinks of you," she whispered with a smirk, before raising her voice and calling out in response.

"Sure," she said, clearly enjoying the blanched look on Zuko's face. "I just made some seal-tea, if you want a little."

"Sounds deli—" Sokka began, poking his head through the seal-skin barrier, the word dying on his lips as he saw Zuko sitting there. "Oh," he said shortly, his blue eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Maybe I should just come back later," he continued lowly. "I didn't know you had a guest."

"Oh, no you don't," Lyra said, jumping to her feet and scurrying over to the door, grabbing Sokka by the elbow and hauling him bodily into the room. "Sit down," she said with all the authority her childish attitude gave her, pointing to the seat next to hers. "If you have something to say to Zuko, just say it. I'm sick and tired of people never saying what they think to each other... my mom always got angry with my dad when he wouldn't give her a straight answer about something."

Lyra's face was oddly hard and lined in that moment, and it dawned on Zuko that the girl had never mentioned her parents before. There only seemed to be two bedrooms branching off from the main room—one for her, and the other probably for the grandmother she kept mentioning.

"Where are your parents, Lyra?" the prince asked gently, curious. Before the girl could answer, though, Sokka spoke up for her.

"The Fire Nation killed both of them a few years ago," he said bitterly. "The captain of the raid murdered them himself, when they refused to quarter some of his soldiers who'd robbed them blind."

"Sokka!" Lyra hissed, her voice acidic. "Enough!"

"I… I'm sorry to hear that," Zuko said slowly, at a loss for words. "I didn't think my uncle would have ever let something like that happen."

"He didn't," Lyra broke in, shooting Sokka a glare that told him in no uncertain terms to keep his mouth shut. "Uncle Hakoda sent a demand for justice to the Fire Lord himself. And from the way he tells the story, the Fire Lord was furious. He took away the Captain's command and forced him into retirement."

"I see," Zuko said, remembering the only time he'd seen his uncle ever publicly revoke the command of a Fire Nation officer. He knew the name of the person who had committed the crime, but he held his silence—there was no point in opening an old wound up even further. "But you don't seem to hate me, Lyra."

Lyra looked at the prince like he'd just sprouted wings.

"Why would I hate you for that?" she asked simply. "You weren't the one who took my parents from me; someone else did that. You're nice, I like you, and that's that. Besides," she added with a smile, "I couldn't hate someone who gives me free licorice."

Zuko was struck dumb by the forgiveness, having expected nothing but seething hatred. He knew for a fact that his father would never have been so quick to forgive something like that; he probably would have razed the entire Southern Water Tribe to the ground if one of them so much as broke Azula's arm.

_If he would do the same for me,_ Zuko reflected bitterly, _I'm not so sure._

"So now you see why a lot of us don't exactly like the Fire Nation marching around down here like they own the place," Sokka said darkly after a few moments, sipping at his mug. "Especially not my family. Lyra's mother was my dad's only sister, and she's dead because of a Firebender."

"Sokka, stop it," Kyra said sharply, tears in the corners of her eyes. "Just stop."

"And now you think you can just waltz in here and marry my sister?" Sokka pressed on anyway, his eyes narrowing again. "Don't think I'll just roll over and let you, Zuko."

"You think I _want_ to?" Zuko snapped back. The pin slipped out from beneath his topknot, causing his short hair to fall loose as he stood up from his chair, his own amber eyes bright with anger. "I'm only here because my stupid sister suggested it in a meeting! I'd just as soon be on a ship going back home!"

"Both of you, just _shut up_!"

The shout was followed by both boys feeling a sharp burning sensation on the hands that were holding their mugs, yelping in unison as they jerked away from them. Zuko understood after a moment that Lyra had forced the water to heat up, probably through rapid friction—something that would have taken an enormous amount of energy and control.

"I don't want anyone else screaming at each other," Lyra said heavily, her downcast voice filling the sudden silence. "That's all my mom and dad ever used to do, and I'm sick of it! So stop!"

Zuko hung his head in ashamed apology.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, to both her and Sokka. "I don't know what happened—I just lost it."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Sokka said lowly, embarrassed both by his own lack of control and by the fact that Lyra was now sniffling openly. "This whole thing… first my sister's the Avatar, and then you show up out of nowhere with a freaking marriage proposal… it's all so sudden; I don't even know what to think about it."

"Tell me about it," Zuko agreed with a weary laugh and a small smile. "I just hope your sister doesn't strangle me in my sleep."

Sokka chuckled, taking a tentative sip of his seal-tea, and the thick tension in the room melted away.

"I don't think she'd go that far," Sokka said, glad to see a smile creep back onto his young cousin's face. "If anything, I think Katara'd get more joy out of breaking your jaw with a left hook. She punches _hard_ when she wants to."

"Thank you, Sokka," Zuko said sarcastically. "I feel so much better now."

Lyra laughed openly at that, and the two young men shared a relieved look.

"I'll never understand boys," the girl said, shaking her head and sniffling one last time, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "You're all crazy."

"And proud of it, missy," Sokka said, puffing his chest up theatrically. "It comes with the territory."

Zuko chuckled to himself as he finished his drink, feeling oddly at ease in a place where people were so honest with themselves and each other. Compared to the intrigues of the Fire Nation royal court, the openness here in the south was an enormous breath of fresh air.

"That was delicious," the prince said approvingly as he set his empty mug down on the table with a sigh. "You're right; I was missing out."

"I told you so," Lyra said with satisfaction, her smile erasing the last lingering shreds of sadness that had lined her face earlier. "We'll make a Water Tribesman out of you by the end of the week, Zuko."

The three of them settled into a companionable quiet. When Sokka finished his tea he got up and looked across the table at the Fire Nation prince, all previous bitterness gone from his face.

"C'mon, your highness," he said with a shake of his head, "I'll show you around."

"Sounds good," Zuko said, rising as well and giving Lyra a polite half-bow. "Thank you very much for the tea," he said with a small smile. "Sorry we yelled."

"It's okay," the girl demurred. "Just don't do it again."

"You got it," Sokka said, squeezing his cousin's shoulder reassuringly. "But don't tell Katara about it, please," he added, his face suddenly becoming drawn and nervous. "If she finds out that we made you cry, we're both dead."

Lyra laughed, before pinching her forefinger and thumb together and drawing them across her lips.

"Thanks," Sokka breathed out, sighing in relief before turning his attention back to the prince. "Okay," he continued, his voice back to normal, "let's go."

The two of them stepped out through the seal-skin barrier and out into the light, where dusk was casting everything in a rosy-orange hue that heralded the coming sunset. Zuko stood staring out at the water, his mouth open slightly as he looked first up at the sky, and then back over at the white buildings as they shone with a myriad of twisting, shifting colors.

"It's beautiful," he said after a few moments, his voice quiet with awe. "There's nothing like this in the Fire Nation; it's all steel and stone and black smoke."

"Yeah," Sokka agreed, "we might not have your industry or machinery down here, but I wouldn't trade a view like this for anything."

The pair walked along in silence, with Sokka occasionally gesturing over at a building or two and explaining what it was. They passed the meat-processing building, the fishery, the granary that handled imports from the Earth Kingdom, and finally the two buildings that collectively represented the armory.

"That's a lot of weapons," Zuko said with raised eyebrows, and Sokka shrugged.

"Can't be too careful," he countered. "Even if we haven't seen Sea Raven flags on our shores for a few years, well…" he shrugged. "You never know."

"I still can't believe Yon Rha did that," Zuko said harshly, the name escaping his lips like a curse. "After everything my uncle did to create peace between us… banishment was too good for him."

Sokka looked at Zuko in shock as the words sunk in, unable to speak for a few heartbeats until he swallowed the knot in his throat.

"You know who led the raid? You know who killed Lyra's parents?"

"Yes, I do," Zuko affirmed, his eyes glowing with anger in the dim dusk light. "And if I ever see him again," he said, "I'm going to kill him. Slowly."

Sokka nodded, putting a hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"And I'll be right there with you," he said. "We should get going back to my place," he continued, the tone of his voice shifting from intense back to casual with an ease that surprised Zuko. He sounded like a soldier. "You're going to be staying with us for the week, after all; I might as well show you your room."

"Lead the way," the prince said with a wave of his hand, following Sokka as the sun dipped down below the skyline behind them.

* * *

**...**

**...  
**

**A/N: **Chapter four, ladies and gents. I hope you enjoyed it, even if the pacing has been a bit leisurely lately... my hope is that the character moments are a solid substitute for a break-neck plot. But it'll get intense soon enough, I can say that much.

Thank you very much to all of you who've read this far, and also those of you who've been taking the time to leave feedback; I really appreciate you giving this story a chance and letting me know what you think of it. Reader response has been great, and a lot more than I thought it would be.

Speaking of feedback, this wouldn't be a proper author's note without shout-outs to new reviewers who hopped on the bandwagon last chapter: **Orlissa92, doodlechick12, CrazyDyslexicNerd **and **Kimberly T.** You all rock.

And in case any of you are sitting there thinking "But Jazz, Waterbenders can only have blue eyes!", my feeling is that if the Sun Warriors can have brown eyes, a Waterbender or two can have gray ones.

Time for next chapter's teaser! For everyone who's been waiting patiently so far, next week is going to be a completely Zutara-centric chapter. Figured it was about time to deliver on that score. A little tension, a little insecurity, a little common ground and more than a little Firebending.

See you then!

**- Jazz  
**


	5. Roots

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 5:** Roots

* * *

Zuko rolled over onto his back and sighed, having slowly grown more and more frustrated with his inability to fall asleep over the past hour. As nice as the pelts were that had been sewn together to make the pallet he was sleeping on, it still didn't feel right. Something was just… off. Gritting his teeth, the prince bit back a sigh of frustration. As he did so, he noticed the flame in the sconce above him flare slightly. He took a calming breath and grimaced: he needed to get out of here and blow off some steam, quick, before he accidentally burned this place to the ground.

That wouldn't exactly be the ideal sight to leave Katara's parents with in the morning, after all.

Pushing himself to a sitting position, Zuko shrugged on a thick jacket, stepped into some long pants and headed out into the night, made bright by the twinkling of the stars and the brilliant glow of the full moon.

The prince went beyond the outskirts of the main village, wanting to make sure he wouldn't disturb anyone with what he was about to do. Taking off the jacket, he laid it down on a block of ice and assumed a Firebending stance, breathing in and out and in and out in order to center himself. Luckily, the night was windless, but the cold still bit into Zuko's muscles all the same. He forced his mind away from the stinging discomfort and began to Firebend, hoping to warm himself up in the process.

It was a form his uncle had taught him a long time ago, before Zuko had gone off on his first skirmish with Lu Ten. The series of motions was superficially simple—but in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing, it was a powerful combination of both offensive and defensive strikes and postures. His uncle had called it the 'Dancing Dragon'— why, the prince had no clue. He'd asked Lu Ten about it once, but his cousin had just smiled and shook his head. Zuko hadn't asked twice, chalking it up to just another one of his uncle's slightly odd behaviors.

The prince went through the cycle once slowly to warm up his muscles, both his own restraint and the power of the full moon keeping his flames subdued. As the form ended its _kata_, Zuko began it again, letting his mind slip into the background as his muscle memory moved his limbs on its own. There had always been something oddly calming and liberating about this form, and Zuko wondered idly why no one else had tried to learn it from his uncle... or why the Fire Lord hadn't taught it to anyone else other than him and Lu Ten.

Zuko would have to ask him about that when he returned home.

A sharp pain in his arm yanked the prince back into the present, and he looked down to see a thin sheen of sweat covering most of his upper-body. He was breathing hard, too; clearly he'd lost track of time. Going by the change in the position of the moon overhead, he'd been doing the _kata_ for a solid hour straight.

And judging by the melting snow around him, he'd let his control slip quite a bit in the process. Weak.

"Not bad," an impressed, feminine voice called out from Zuko's right. "Not bad at all."

The prince spun around, suddenly very self-conscious of his appearance. Katara was perched up on a small plateau of ice; one she'd made for herself, and one she unmade just as quickly with a lazy downward push of her arms.

"How long were you sitting over there for?" Zuko bit out as Katara re-froze the ice he'd melted during his _kata_. She looked at him with a sly smile, making Zuko feel even more awkward. The added tension in his shoulders didn't slip past Katara, and her smile grew.

"What, you think I've never seen a guy with no shirt on before?" she asked. "Relax. And I've been watching you this whole time, to answer your question. I couldn't sleep either."

"Why not?"

Katara gave a noncommittal shrug.

"I just couldn't," she said. "The last few days have been pretty stressful for me. What's your excuse?"

"I'm a light sleeper," Zuko answered, taking a seat on a block of ice Katara raised from the ground after laying his jacket down over it as an impromptu cushion. "Always have been. Well, not always," he corrected, his eyes clouding over slightly. "Just once I started fighting in battles. The feeling of an enemy possibly striking you at any moment—that's not something you get over quickly."

"Do you have trouble sleeping back home?"

The question struck Zuko as crazy, and he shot Katara a sidelong look.

"Of course not," he said plainly. "Why would I?"

"So…" Katara continued, letting the word draw out as she put the pieces together, "you feel like you're among enemies here, is that it?"

"What?" the prince said reflexively, feeling his face heat up all the same as he realized what he'd just implied. "No, that's not it," he stammered. "It just… never mind," he finished lowly, a baleful look in his eyes as he focused on the ground. Katara regretted her jab immediately, and reached out to put her hand on his arm. When she did, her eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

"You're hurt," she said seriously.

"It's nothing," Zuko mumbled, but all it took was a slightly stronger grip to make the prince wince and hiss in pain.

"Half your muscle fibers are torn to shreds," Katara said evenly as she moved her hand up along Zuko's arm, "and the flow of your _chi_ is all jumbled. Why did you push yourself this hard?"

"Force of habit," the prince answered, before he narrowed his eyes in curiosity. "You can feel all of that?" he asked, and Katara nodded.

"I had to take healing classes for seven years before the teachers here let me learn anything else about Waterbending," she replied, and there was no missing the frustration in her voice. "This sort of thing just comes easily to me now. I need you to hold still, and don't move… this might feel a little strange at first."

"What do you—?" Zuko started to ask, before Katara pulled some water out of a flask at her hip in a smooth motion and gathered it around her hands. She held the bubble over the lower part of Zuko's forearm and closed her eyes; a heartbeat later, the water began to glow. The prince gasped as he felt the healing energy pour in through his skin and directly into his muscle tissue—Katara had been right, the feeling of torn fibers knitting themselves rapidly back together was a strange one. It felt like a pleasant kind of burn, leaving a light tingle in its wake as Katara moved up to heal Zuko's arm above his elbow.

"That's amazing," he breathed out appreciatively, and the Waterbender smiled. "Now I can see why my uncle wanted to study your tribe's techniques when he was younger—he would have given anything to learn how to heal people like this. It's too bad Firebending's not cut out for it."

"Well," Katara said as she gripped Zuko's shoulders and turned him around on the block so that his other arm was facing her, "every element has its place in the scheme of things. No one is more essential than any of the others."

Zuko gave a small smile.

"Sounds like you're starting to get the hang of this 'Avatar' stuff."

The glow around Katara's hands intensified, and Zuko stifled another hiss as the burn from the healing became too strong. Katara felt her slip as soon as it happened and corrected herself, flashing the prince an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly. "I lost control for a second there. This kind of healing can wind up doing more harm than good if you push harder than what the body can handle."

"That sounds more like Firebending than I'd have thought," Zuko mused, pondering the unexpected parallel in silence while Katara finished healing him.

"All done," she said after a few minutes. "Don't strain it too hard, though, or you might injure yourself all over again."

"Thank you," the prince said belatedly, flexing the muscles experimentally and grinning as he felt the strength returned to them. "This is great."

Katara was glad that the darkness concealed her quick flush of pride, her eyes looking absently over Zuko's torso until she saw something that halted her gaze. It was a large, pale-white gash of scar tissue that ran along his right oblique muscle, starting next to his abdominals and curving around to right before the beginning of his spine. It was a vicious scar, and the thought of the weapon that might have caused it made Katara shudder.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked. "Are you cold?"

"No," she replied, pulling her coat a little tighter around her all the same. "I'm fine. That scar there just creeped me out, is all." She reached out to point at it with one slender finger. "How did you get it? Or better yet, how did you even _survive_ getting it?"

Zuko reached down and traced his hands over the length of the scar, a bitter smile crossing his face at the memories it brought floating back to him.

"It was during my first battle," he said quietly. "It was supposed to be a quick mopping-up engagement with some holdout Earth Kingdom rebels, so I badgered my cousin into letting me go with him. I never should have done it, but of course I didn't see it that way at the time."

"Your cousin, meaning the Crown Prince?" Katara broke in curiously, hoping for clarification. "Lu Ten?"

Zuko's smile lost some of its bitterness at the mention of his cousin... and he didn't mention what Lu Ten had done to the previous Avatar, afraid to risk derailing the conversation completely.

"That's him, yeah," the prince said with a nod. "It was two years ago, and my cousin was already known all over the Fire Nation as one of the great heroes of the Siege at Ba Sing Se. I wanted to ride with him in the vanguard... but he told me I wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility. And that my mother would probably cut his throat open if he let me get hurt on his watch," Zuko added with no hint of humor, drawing a raised eyebrow from Katara.

"So, what'd you do?"

The prince looked over and gave the Waterbender a smile that was equal parts sadness and pride.

"I snuck in," he said. "I paid off a soldier to let me have his armor, and I took his spot in the vanguard. After all, it was just supposed to be a quick, harmless mission… what was the worst that could have possibly happened?"

"I'm guessing that, whatever it was," Katara cut in, "it happened."

Zuko nodded solemnly.

"Somehow, they'd known we were coming," he continued, his voice turning dark. "Their numbers were a lot higher than we'd anticipated, and it turned into a pitched battle. I got caught between three Earthbenders—I took two of them out, but the third one moved into my blind spot and, well…" here Zuko motioned to his scar. "See for yourself."

"Geez," Katara breathed out, shocked that Zuko had been able to hold his own that well, let alone defeat two veteran Earthbenders in combat while being outnumbered three-to-one. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Zuko replied tersely. "It was my mistake, and I deserve what I got. Lu Ten was furious with me when I was found among the wounded, and my uncle was even angrier. I'm pretty sure my mother pleading on my behalf was the only thing that kept me from cleaning out the stables for a year as punishment. I'll never forget the looks on their faces that day," he said lowly, closing his eyes. "I let them all down."

"Hey; hey," Katara said soothingly, putting her hand on Zuko's shoulder. "We all make mistakes. It's what we take away from them that counts. Besides, I don't think your uncle would have let you come down here on such an important mission if he thought you couldn't handle it."

Zuko smiled at that, feeling his spirits lift a little.

"To be honest," the prince said, "I'm pretty sure he just thinks I need a girlfriend. No offense," he added quickly, realizing what he'd just said. Katara laughed.

"None taken," she said, glad for the shift in mood. Clearly, there was a lot more to Zuko than the prince let on, and not all of it was good. "I'm pretty sure my mom feels the same way about me by now; I've lost count of how many idiot boys have tried to put a betrothal necklace on me at this point."

They were quiet for a few moments, their heads lifting up slowly to gaze at the constellations overhead. Zuko noted with no small amount of pride that Katara's hand stayed where it was.

"So why didn't you speak up earlier today, at the meeting?" the prince said at last into the peaceful silence. "You could have stopped it right there, if you'd wanted to."

"Your mother made some good points," Katara answered easily. "And if she can convince my dad to change his mind about anything, that's saying something."

Overhead, a star fell blazing through the sky, leaving a bright trail behind it for a scant few seconds before it faded once again into the blackness. Zuko let himself relax, lying down on the smooth ice and sighing as it sent a welcome wave of cool relief through the soreness still lingering in some of his muscles.

"So," he asked as Katara joined him, "what's it like? Being the Avatar, I mean."

"Honestly?" she asked, and Zuko nodded for her to continue. "It's completely overrated."

"Really?" Zuko said, surprised at the one reply he hadn't expected to hear. "What do you mean? Being able to control all four elements sounds like a good deal to me."

"Maybe it would be," Katara said ruefully, "if that was all there was to it. But ever since they found out I was the Avatar, no one's been able to look at me the same way again. Well, except for my family, I guess—but still, it's just awkward. Just because I'm the Avatar, that doesn't mean I'm not also _me_."

"I know," Zuko said, enough pained honesty in his voice to grab Katara's attention through her frustrated haze. "It takes a while, but it does get easier."

"What?" Katara said, more sharply than she intended to, but refusing to back down all the same. "Are you saying you know what this feels like? To have all of this weight dropped on your shoulders at once? Are you serious?"

"I didn't say that," Zuko countered, his voice level despite the heat of the accusation. "I said I knew what it felt like to have people treat you like a fragile object rather than a person. No one in the palace outside of my family will even look me in the eyes any longer than they absolutely have to. It's like they're afraid I'm going to burn them alive or something; I don't understand it.

"Like I said, it gets easier to deal with—it just takes time."

Katara felt her stomach sink and knot with regret at her outburst.

"Zuko, I'm sorry," she said after a moment, looking over at him apologetically. "It's just… all of this stuff—"

"It's sudden and scary and you have no idea how to deal with it?" Zuko finished for her, smiling. "I can imagine."

"Exactly," she said, smiling tiredly in kind. "I don't even know where to start."

"Start by learning the other three elements," Zuko suggested. "Take a year or so to get used to what you can do. If the rest of the world is going to knock down your door every time they have a problem once you truly become the Avatar, they owe you at least that much time to yourself."

"Yeah," Katara agreed, feeling her spirits lift a little. "I suppose they do."

She paused, looking at Zuko strangely while a smile played around the corners of her mouth.

"What?" he asked, starting to feel antsy. "What is it?"

"Well," Katara said, getting up and stretching out her back in a way Zuko found to be highly distracting, "if I'm going to have to learn the other three elements, I might as well start now. How about you teach me some Firebending basics?"

"Are you sure?" he asked, rising slowly to his feet. "It's your natural element's opposite—it won't be easy."

"That doesn't matter," Katara replied resolutely. "I'm going to have to learn it someday, hard or not, and being afraid of it isn't going to help with anything. Let's do this."

Zuko had to respect her strength of will, but he also knew it was too early for someone who only knew Waterbending to be moving into Firebending; the forms and attitudes required were almost totally different. The prince took a deep breath, hoping he didn't screw this up.

"Okay," he said, "then how about we compromise?"

Katara raised an eyebrow at that, looking curiously over at the prince.

"How so?"

"I can't teach you to Firebend properly yet; it's not safe. Don't make that face at me, I'm being serious!" Zuko said sternly as Katara stuck her tongue partway out of her mouth at him, the prince trying to be forceful and failing miserably.

"Anyway," he continued with a sigh, "I can at least teach you the basic principles and some of the forms, to keep in mind for later. Deal?"

Katara paused to consider the arrangement and nodded a few heartbeats later.

"Sure," she said, "I'll take what I can get."

"Good," Zuko replied shortly, relieved that she hadn't made that any more difficult. "First, I have to tell you about the sources of Firebending's power. They're the roots of all of this."

"Source_s_?" Katara echoed, confused. "As in, more than one? Don't you just draw from the sun, like we draw from the moon?"

"Well, that's the fundamental source, yeah," the prince answered. "But what I'm talking about is the individual anchor you have residing within you; the place you personally draw out your own _chi_ from. You see the difference?"

Katara nodded, shrugging off her jacket as she did so. Zuko coughed, and she looked at him curiously.

"What?" she said. "If you're going to be Firebending, I don't want to be standing here in a three-layer coat roasting to a crisp."

"What part of 'basic principles and forms' do you think will involve any actual Firebending?" the prince said as calmly as he could, keeping his eyes locked on Katara's. "That's the whole point of this. Please put your clothes back on, and we'll continue."

Katara picked up her jacket and eased into it with a private smirk, realizing now why Zuko was still single—he probably wouldn't have known what to do if she'd fallen right on top of him. Still, it was refreshing to meet a guy who didn't immediately start sizing her up like a piece of meat. So there was that, at least.

"Now, as I was saying," Zuko continued, recovering his footing with commendable grace, "there are two sources—besides the sun—that Firebenders can use to draw their energy from. Either the understanding that fire is an expression of positive will—the will that creates, nurtures and protects—or an expression of negative will—the will that conquers, destroys and dominates. The positive will is marked by control, compassion and inner-peace. The negative will, though, is marked by emotions like rage, hatred and uncontrolled passion." The prince paused, thinking he'd done a rather good job of repeating what Jeong Jeong had taught him years ago. For once, he felt indebted to that grouchy old guy.

"But why would you bother using negative emotions," Katara said slowly, "when they're so dangerous? Why not just draw on positive emotions all the time?"

"Because appealing to negative emotions is much easier," Zuko explained. "Think about it this way: if you were fighting me, and I was trying to kill you, would control and compassion be the first things on your mind?"

"Of course not," Katara blurted out instinctively. "I'd try to kill you before you killed me. Anyone would."

Zuko bowed his head slightly and spread his hands out in front of him, his amber eyes glinting in the moonlight.

"I rest my case."

Katara frowned at having been played so easily, but she had to admit that Zuko made a fair point. Fighting someone certainly didn't automatically mean killing them, if it could be avoided.

"So, I assume drawing from positive emotions is more powerful?" Katara asked, and Zuko shrugged.

"Yes, and no," he said flatly. "It depends."

"Well, that was helpful," Katara said with a soft snort. "What does it depend on?"

"Drawing from negative emotions is, like I said, easier," the prince allowed, his voice calm. "But it drains you quickly if you can't handle the stress and pressure it puts on you."

"And positive emotion isn't as powerful in the short term if you don't know what you're doing, but you can sustain it for longer?" Katara proffered, and Zuko gave her a wide smile.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," he answered. "Of course, it's always ideal to use positive emotions over negative ones when you Firebend. But if you're forced into a fight with no other alternatives, before you've completely mastered Firebending, well… that's not exactly an ideal situation, is it?"

"No."

Zuko nodded, shifting his body into a simple stance; one Katara recognized as being the opening position for the string of _kata_ he had been practicing earlier.

"The most important thing to maintain at all times is a constant rhythm of breath," the prince said, his stomach tightening and relaxing in a measured, smooth alternation. "This is your first root—it needs to stay constant no matter what you're doing. Lose control of your breath, and you become excited, agitated, tired—all things that interfere with your Firebending.

"The second root, and this is where it'll get tricky for you," Zuko continued, his body moving into the second and third positions of the form, "is composed of the forms and positions themselves. Waterbending is flowing, adaptive—Firebending is quick, decisive and explosive. You can't let your stance be broken, or the fight will go poorly for you."

"And I can't sit back and wait for the attacks to come to me, either," Katara observed, realizing that was what most of her Waterbending was founded upon: observation and reaction. "I have to press the offensive myself and wear down my opponent."

"Precisely," the prince said with approval, and Katara smiled. "You're a much faster learner than I was, Katara. I'm impressed. This might not be so hard for you after all."

"Then, will you teach me some more advanced stuff?" she asked hopefully, but Zuko stood firm.

"No," he said. "Someday, but not right now."

"Fine," she said, turning her back to him and starting to walk away. "I understand. Good night, Zuko."

The prince sighed, wondering if he could have phrased that differently and not have pissed away all the goodwill he'd just spent the last two hours building up.

The blast was so sudden that it almost caught Zuko completely off-guard. It probably would have knocked him flat on his backside… if his battle-honed reflexes hadn't taken over and shifted his body into a defensive stance, his arm moving of its own accord to cancel out the flame with a burst of equal and opposite intensity.

"What was tha—" Zuko started to call out, before another burst of fire from Katara cut him off and forced him back onto the defensive. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he called out after stopping another salvo, and Katara just smiled at him.

"I watched you practicing that form of yours for a whole hour, non-stop," she explained, with no small amount of smugness in her voice. "And as you so kindly put it earlier, I'm a fast learner. Do you really think I couldn't memorize a series of stances I saw fifty times in a row?"

Katara had expected Zuko to laugh it off, or say something comically stoic to her… but neither of those things happened. Instead, Zuko rolled his shoulders, settled into a squat stance and fixed her with a stare that made a shiver run down her spine. And it was a shiver that had nothing to do with the fact she'd shed her jacket again.

"Do you think this is supposed to be fun?" the prince asked, his voice sharp, cold and completely serious. "Do you realize what Firebending can do if it isn't controlled?"

Katara opened her mouth to answer, but before anything had left her throat, Zuko shot a burst of flame at her from his fist. She reacted immediately, drawing the ice in front of her up into a defensive wall. The burst of flame died with a weak sizzle, and when it was clear that Zuko wasn't going to attack again, Katara dropped the wall.

"Your instinct still leans to Waterbending," Zuko said softly, the harshness completely gone from his voice as he walked towards her. "Until you can deflect something like that using Firebending of your own, you're not ready to do anything other than the basics. And you're certainly not ready for the Dancing Dragon."

"The what-now?" Katara asked, not sure if she'd heard that right.

"The Dancing Dragon," Zuko repeated. "It's the name of the form you were trying to ape. It's one of the oldest Firebending forms in the world."

Katara couldn't stop a laugh from getting out, and she gave Zuko an apologetic look. "Sorry," she said. "That's just a funny name for an attacking form."

"It has elements of both offense and defense, if you know how to use it," the prince said simply, before he paused and yawned. The gesture was contagious and Katara yawned as well, looking up at the sky and realizing that it was around four in the morning.

"We should probably be getting back," Zuko said tiredly. "It's late."

"Walk all the way back to my house? Are you kidding?" Katara asked incredulously. "No, that's way too far. Besides, I brought a roll with me to sleep on; I thought something like this might happen."

"Well, that's great for you," Zuko said, drawing one of his arms across his chest to stretch his shoulder, revealing the pale silver line of another scar, "but what am I supposed to do?"

Katara looked at the prince like he'd just asked what color the moon was.

"The roll's big enough for two people, Zuko," she said. Seeing the color flush onto his cheeks at the implication, she laughed. "Why is that getting you all flustered?" she asked. "We _are_ probably getting married, aren't we?"

It was almost too much for Zuko to take, and when his answer came out it was slow to the point of almost being slurred.

"I guess…" he managed, and Katara nodded.

"So there's no problem," she said, walking over to the bundled blanket of seal-skin and seal-pelt and unrolling it, laying it out on the ground. "There we go."

She laid down on the improvised bed with a sigh, hands behind her head as she looked up at the stars. Zuko stood still for a few heartbeats, before rationalizing that since all they would be doing was sleeping, there was nothing wrong with this. Chieftain Hakoda definitely wouldn't want to cut his head off come tomorrow—hopefully. He walked over and laid down next to Katara, the fur beneath his head surprisingly soft.

"Good night, Katara," he said quietly, his eyes drifting closed.

Katara turned her head and looked at Zuko, surprised by what she saw. Asleep, with all of the tension eased out of his face, he looked like a very different person. Gone was the regret and premature aging of the battlefield, and in its place was the face of a young man who looked very much like his mother, only with more angular cheekbones. There was still tension there, but not nearly as much as there had been—maybe one day, she could get him to open up about why he pushed himself so relentlessly all the time.

She waited until she was sure he was sleeping before leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on his forehead: her thanks for teaching her what he had, against his better judgment. She turned over onto her other side and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to take her as well—

When she felt the unmistakable warmth of a hand over hers. She stiffened, but with a quick squeeze the warmth was gone.

Katara relaxed again, and there was a small smile on her face when she finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**...**

**...  
**

**A/N:** There it is; at long last, a bit of the Zutara payoff I'm sure at least some of you were waiting for. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, and I hope it was as much fun to read. I figured a bit of lighter stuff in the middle of all this tension wouldn't hurt. And yes, right now Katara is very firmly wearing the metaphorical relationship pants... Zuko still doesn't quite know what he's in for yet, I'm afraid.

Now it's time for the new reviewer thank-yous! Shout-outs this week go to: **JourneyRocks13, 321Haruko123 **and **thelegendarytrollwagon**, the last of whom was awesome enough to drop reviews for both chapters one and four. Tip of the hat to all three of you; thanks for the support. Also, thanks to the recurring reviewers who've stuck with this story from its inception: you all rock.

Okay then, looks like it's time for the teaser for next week's installment! The entire chapter is going to be devoted to Azula and Lu Ten's side of things, where we've finally reached the showdown that's been brewing these last few weeks: Azula faces off against the Blind Bandit, a.k.a. Toph Bei-Fong, a.k.a. awesomeness incarnate. Should be a good time, and I hope to see you there!

**- Jazz**


	6. Cold Blood

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 6: **Cold Blood

* * *

"Remind me again," Lu Ten said with bemusement as he shifted in his seat to dodge another flying boulder, "why we're sitting down here?"

"Because if we're going to pay double the market price to get in, I don't want to sit in nosebleed seats surrounded by filthy, obnoxiously loud idiots," Azula answered, and Lu Ten shrugged.

"Fair enough," he agreed. "Still," he finished with a frown, "you could have at least warned me this is what would be happening."

Azula smiled.

"Where's the fun in that?" she said, sliding over to avoid a rock and making sure the hood stayed low over her face. No point in dropping their cover until the right moment, after all.

Lu Ten opened his mouth to retort again, but the words were cut off as he moved quickly to dodge another rock that was twice the size of his head.

"And the match is _over_, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer, Xin Fu, boomed from his pulpit high above the arena. "The Boulder has knocked the Hippo out of the ring!"

A chorus of cheers rang out at that, and Xin Fu waited with practiced patience for them to fade before moving on.

"And now," he began theatrically, "let's hear it for Fire… Nation… Man!"

A blast of raucous booing greeted the announcement, and Azula shot her cousin a sidelong glance.

"Yes, we seem to be so loved here," she muttered, and Lu Ten shushed her.

"It's all part of the package," the crown prince replied quietly. "And that aside, Zhao _did_ try to pillage this place down to its foundations a little while ago. Can you blame them for making us the token villains?"

"Yes, I ca—" Azula started to say, but the roughly discordant voice of Fire Nation Man quickly cut her off.

"Now, to please rise," he said, dropping to one knee, "for Fire Nation national anthem!"

"That makes no sense," Lu Ten said, confused, before a swift jab on the shoulder from his cousin silenced him.

"Fire Lord," the man crooned, his voice sounding to the two royals like a mongoose-lizard in labor, "my flame burns for thee…!"

"That's not even our national anthem!" Lu Ten snapped, his voice edging toward venomous. He leaned forward, making as if to rise, only to be stopped when Azula put a firm hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"Now, now, cousin," she said, the amusement in her voice unmistakable, "can you blame them?"

"For that," Lu Ten said, his mouth curved down into an exaggeratedly murderous frown, "absolutely. It made my ears bleed!"

"They'll survive," Azula said dismissively as Fire Nation Man was launched out of the ring by The Boulder, earning him the crown prince's enthusiastic applause.

"I hope he stops fooling around and hurries this up," Azula grumbled as a giant badger-mole came out and swept the debris from the ring. "I'm getting tired of waiting for this girl."

"Stay calm," Lu Ten counseled her, all of his earlier anger forgotten. "If you go into this agitated, you've already ceded the victory."

"Stop quoting your father's platitudes at me," the princess snapped. "I know what I'm doing."

"I hope so," the crown prince said quietly, "for your sake."

The next few rounds went by without much incident: The Boulder casually dispatched of The Gopher, The Gecko and the Wild Man, while throwing in enough overblown stage-posturing to keep the crowd begging for more. Azula was about to take a nap when the light pouring in from the roof of the cavern dimmed, and Xin Fu said the magic words.

"Now," he said slowly, "the moment you've all been waiting for— The Boulder versus your champion… The Blind Bandit!"

"There we go," Azula said, her eyes flashing beneath her hood as her voice dripped with anticipation. "It's about time."

The Blind Bandit handed her championship belt off to one of her attendants, while the other one took the cape that was the full extent of her costume. The lights came back up, and The Boulder took a slightly hesitant step forward.

"The Boulder feels conflicted," he said, "about fighting young, blind girl."

The girl made a face at that, shooting her opponent a mocking grin.

"Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder," she crowed, and The Boulder frowned.

"The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings," he said sharply, "and now he's ready to bury you— in a rockalanche!"

"Whenever you're ready, The Pebble," the Bandit shot back cockily, laughing.

"Oh, she's just hilarious," Azula said dryly, offering up a slow-clap at the joke. "I'd like to see that brat quip while I roast her."

"Careful," Lu Ten cautioned, his voice serious. He couldn't figure why, but something about this girl was raising every red flag that years of combat experience had planted in his instincts. "She's a lot tougher than she looks—I can feel it."

"It's a good thing she doesn't look like much, then," Azula said nonchalantly, rolling her shoulders and head to loosen up her muscles. "It's a shame, though," she finished airily. "I thought this was going to be a nice challenge."

"It's on!" The Boulder said firmly, planting his feet and concentrating. After a few tense beats of both combatants remaining motionless, The Boulder shouted and lunged forward.

But his leading foot never hit the ground. The Bandit made a swift chopping motion with her hand, and a pillar of rock shot out of the ground at just the right angle to kneecap the leg The Boulder was standing on. He crumpled with a howl of pain, and all it took was one smooth step forward and a second chop for a trio of pillars to spring out of the ground and launch The Boulder clean out of the ring.

"As I was saying," Lu Ten broke smugly into his cousin's shocked silence, "she's a lot tougher than she looks."

"Your winner," Xin Fu said, jumping down off of his pulpit, "and still champion—The Blind Bandit!" After the crowd's applause died down, Xin Fu held up a green sack filled with coins in one hand.

"To make things a little more interesting," he boomed, "I'm offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat The Blind Bandit!"

Silence settled over the arena, and Xin Fu let it go for just as long as he needed it to.

"What?" he asked into the crowd. "No one dares to face her?"

"I will."

A stifled gasp went through the crowd as Azula stood up and lowered her hood, the sigil on her hair-band's ornament and her unconcealed amber eyes making her instantly recognizable.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is quite a surprise!" Xin Fu exclaimed, covering his own shock masterfully. "Princess Azula herself, not only having joined us here tonight, but offering to demonstrate her prodigious martial skill! We are unworthy of such a gift, your highness."

"Yes," Azula said acidly, "you are."

The air in the stadium turned suddenly leaden, but Azula seemed completely unconcerned about the countless pairs of daggers being stared in her direction.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Princess," Xin Fu continued, "but as this is an Earthbending tournament, I'm afraid Benders of other elements are forbidden from entering."

Azula frowned, her eyes narrowing in anger. She hadn't come this far to be denied a fight on the basis of a miserable technicality.

"I'll make you a deal, Xin Fu," she said imperiously. "When I win, I'll give you back your sack of gold, no strings attached. I'm not in this for the money, as I'm sure you can guess."

Xin Fu's practiced calm faltered, and a bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

"Princess—"

"Hold it," the Bandit said firmly, raising her arm and pointing at the announcer. "This prissy little Princess sounds real confident. I say give her a shot."

"Prissy?" Azula echoed dangerously, shrugging off her cloak and propelling herself onto the ring's surface with a burst of blue flame. "I'm going to enjoy taking you down a few pegs, you peasant."

"For your information, I'm not a peasant," Toph replied sharply, her sightless eyes narrowing in kind. "My name's Toph Bei Fong."

Azula's expression flickered with recognition at the name, and she smiled viciously.

"I've heard your family's phenomenally wealthy," she practically purred. "Once I've finished with you, perhaps I'll go pay their coffers a visit."

"Says the brat who's not in it for the money," Toph spat back, smirking as she slipped into a fighting stance. "Enough jabbering; let's do this."

"Let's," Azula said, her smile widening as she stepped forward and shot out a burst of blue flame. Toph raised her hand quickly and a wall of rock sprung up to absorb the impact, Xin Fu launching himself back up out of danger as the crowd tensed.

Toph's defensive barrier split in half as the fireball slammed into it, and the Earthbender wasted no time sending the bottom half of the wall racing forward along the ground to cut Azula's legs out from under her. But the princess was too fast to get caught by the trap, flipping forward and dodging the rock completely.

But Toph had been counting on that, and was waiting for the princess when she landed. The Earthbender shifted her stance as soon as Azula's first foot touched the ground, kicking forward almost lazily and sending a rift snaking through the ground. It broke up the rock into small chunks where it traveled, too quickly for Azula to re-adjust the weight she'd already shifted onto her other leg. It was right underneath the princess's other foot when it touched down, breaking Azula's footing and forcing her into a split position. She recovered without missing a beat: using her hands as an anchor, she pushed herself up off the ground and swung her legs around as she did so. A large plume of blue flame rushed out of her feet towards Toph, and Azula let her momentum carry her as she sprung back upright.

Toph created another wall, snuffing the fire out before it could reach her. Determined not to stay on the defensive forever, the Earthbender stomped down on the ground, causing a large, pointed wedge to free itself and rise up to shoulder-height. One quick punch more was all it took to send the spike racing toward Azula, who was forced to shift to the side to dodge it. The princess sent out another ball of blue flame to cover her movement, but it wasn't enough; in two succinct strikes, Toph had both caused the fireball to once again disperse on a pillar of rock and then caused the ground underneath Azula's feet to crumble into a jagged mess of ground-up stone.

Azula realized she stood much less of a chance fighting from a distance, and tried to close the gap between them. But she'd only gotten one foot out of the loose rock before it suddenly solidified again, trapping her other foot beneath it.

"Damn!" she hissed, quickly channeling explosive force down through her trapped leg and blowing a crater into the ground around her foot.

That brief opening was all the time Toph needed to press the offensive, raising a large boulder and breaking it into three equal projectiles with three sharp, blunt punches. The smaller rocks shot through the air with more than enough velocity to shatter bone on impact, and Azula saw with wide eyes that she had scant seconds to dodge them. Jumping quickly up onto the first one, she used it as a springboard to leap further into the air; curling into a tight ball to increase her altitude, she stretched back out at the peak of her jump and shattered the other two projectiles with dead-on fire blasts. A swift barrage of three more blasts immediately followed, and Azula noted with interest that Toph's evasive movement wasn't nearly as preemptive as it had been before.

Getting an idea, the princess touched back down and tensed her muscles. The Earthbender smirked, stomping the ground and raising up a large column of stone. One sharp shove later and it was racing predictably towards Azula, who gave a smile of her own and sprang into action. Windmilling her arms rapidly across her chest, she sent crescent-shaped arcs of blue flame out to meet the stone column. This time, the fire was keen enough to slice through the rock rather than shattering it, carving it up into multiple smooth slabs.

Seeing her narrow opening, Azula leapt up again at once, letting her feet rest on one of the slabs for the barest of moments before jumping over onto another one, gaining slightly more altitude each time. To her immense satisfaction, the princess chanced a look down and saw Toph looking around jerkily, clearly trying to ascertain her opponent's location.

_So, she can't tell where I am as long as I stay off the ground,_ Azula reasoned to herself. _Too easy._

Focusing her _chi_ down into the bottoms of her feet, the princess released a small, controlled amount of blue flame; just enough propulsion to keep her aloft.

She realized her error a second too late as Toph's head whipped around at the noise, her mouth curving up into another infuriating smirk as she zeroed in on Azula's location.

"Found you," she said, raising her arms high above her head before bringing them quickly back down, timing the drop with a hard stomp from her leading foot.

The combined motion was enough to bring four huge pillars rising out of the ground. They formed a square around Azula, who hovered at the central point. The princess tried to escape, but Toph was faster than her—clenching her fists, the Earthbender caused the columns to converge together with crushing speed, trapping Azula between them and stifling the scream of pain that seeped out from between the breaks in the stone prison.

Toph relaxed her stance and the pillars crumbled, Azula falling to the ground along with them. The Earthbender stood still for a moment, checking to make sure her opponent was still alive. Satisfied that Azula's breathing was regular, if a bit ragged, and her pulse was steady, Toph relaxed her stance the rest of the way and grinned.

The crowd was silent for a beat, and then erupted in cheers.

"What a fight, ladies and gentlemen!" Xin Fu announced as the cheers abated, jumping back down from his pulpit. "Give it up, once again, for The Blind Bandit!"

The crowd began to applaud again, but the sound quickly died away as the spectators began to notice that Azula was stirring again. Toph had felt it long before any of them had seen it, and was already back on the alert.

"Shut up," the princess seethed, rising shakily to her feet, limping slightly, and flexing both of her arms to make sure neither of them was broken. "I'm not done yet."

"Don't be stupid," Toph said seriously, all cockiness gone from her voice. "Your arms might be okay, but half of your ribs are cracked and one of your shinbones is broken. Just give up."

The cautionary words did nothing to stall Azula—if anything, they just made her more determined to keep fighting.

"Don't you dare patronize me, worm," she hissed, forcing the pain from her mind and focusing solely on her overriding, all-consuming desire to kill the wretch that had thought to humiliate her.

The energy came to her fingertips as easily as breathing, sparking and crackling on the air as Azula completed the initial circular motion and brought her hands together to let the lightning escape.

Lu Ten saw the scene unfolding before him and shot to his feet, willing his muscles to get him between the lightning and its target fast enough to intercept the blast. There was no other way to stop Toph from being killed: if he tried blasting Azula's arm to short-circuit the attack, the risk was two-fold and perilously steep. Not only would he probably break the limb, but if the energy of the lightning was forced to remain inside of Azula's body for too long, the backlash would be very likely lethal.

So he jumped, hoping that the Earthbender would be able to block the attack with a strong-enough wall in case he didn't make it there in time. And to her credit, she did try.

Just not hard enough.

The concussive force of the first searing bolt tore through the rock like it was made of parchment, breaking the defense completely. And unfortunately for Toph, Azula managed to hold in the blast from her other hand just long enough to unleash it after the first one had struck.

But fortunately for Lu Ten, that gave the crown prince the extra half-second he needed to stick his hand out in front of the lightning, grounding his feet as soon as he felt the electricity enter him. He guided the energy down into his stomach and then back up and out his other arm, pointed towards where he'd been sitting only seconds before. The rock bench was shattered, but Toph was unhurt.

The exertion of delaying the second shot took its toll on Azula almost immediately. As she lurched forward into unconsciousness, Lu Ten was heartbroken to see that the look on her face was one of rage and betrayal. His cousin had truly meant to kill Toph... and if he hadn't intervened at the last possible moment, she very well could have.

The crowd was deathly silent, allowing for Lu Ten's words to echo easily around the arena despite him barely raising his voice.

"Are you all right?" he asked Toph, whose eyebrows shot up in surprise at the question.

"Are you serious?" she exclaimed. "You just jumped in front of a bolt of lightning! I'm the one who should be asking _you_ that!"

"I'm fine," Lu Ten said evenly, taking a few more deep breaths as he slowly came down from the incredible high that always resulted from redirecting lightning. "I didn't get hurt." He took the purse of winnings from a mute Xin Fu, the terms of Azula's earlier bargain forgotten. "Come on," he continued, motioning impatiently to Toph with a shake of his head as he scooped Azula up off the ground and shifted her over his shoulder, "let's get out of here."

* * *

The innkeeper was startled by the sight of the polite gentleman from earlier walking in carrying what appeared to be a dead body over his shoulder. The further realization that the unfamiliar girl walking next to him was holding up a piece of decorated parchment with the Bei Fong family seal on it was too much to take, and the poor woman fainted. Toph cushioned her fall by softening the dirt floor before she landed, looking down apologetically at the unconscious innkeeper.

"I guess I should have waited to break this out," she said abashedly, and Lu Ten shrugged.

"She'll be okay," he said. "Thank you for covering the rooms, by the way."

"Don't mention it," Toph said with a shake of her head. "My parents have more money than a whole group of people would know what to do with; at least this way I get to be sure some of it's being put to good use."

"Regardless, generosity is always appreciated," Lu Ten persisted. "I'm going to go put Azula down to get some rest; you can take a seat over in the dining room. I'll put some of the soup in the kitchen into bowls for us when I get back.

"We have a lot to talk about, you and I," the crown prince finished, putting just a hint of authority in his eyes and voice to make sure that Toph knew he wouldn't take no for an answer.

For her part, Toph had no desire to hang around an inn three miles away from her house with someone who'd just tried to murder her passed out upstairs. On the other hand, this guy _had_ saved her life—she owed it to him to at least hear what he had to say. She walked over into the adjacent dining room and sat down at the table, sighing. A shiver ran down her back as she remembered the crackling, unearthly sound of lightning being forcibly brought into existence, realizing in hindsight just how close she'd come to dying.

It was not an experience she cared to have again any time soon.

But the more Toph thought about it, the heavier another question started to weigh down on her mind: how had that guy re-directed the bolt meant for her? Who exactly was he, anyway? Obviously someone from the Fire Nation, to be traveling with Princess Azula… but what more than that?

She frowned and pushed the question from her thoughts, not liking where it was leading her. Toph began to tap restlessly on the wooden planks of the table, not liking the mess she'd gotten herself into one bit. Going outside of her comfort zone was something she was used to—she did it every time she put on a 'good-girl' act in front of her parents. But this was a different kind of risk: one she hadn't calculated on. Sure, she loved to fight in tournaments and thrived off of the adoration of the crowd. But normally, there was no sensation of being on a razor's edge. That wasn't why she did it.

Tonight had been different, though. Toph had put her life well and truly on the line without even realizing it, and she knew it would take her a long time to sort through how she felt about it. Even taking out that measly, rag-tag group of Fire Nation soldiers hadn't been that intense; she'd held the upper hand in that fight every single step of the way.

Maybe it was time to let The Blind Bandit rest for a while— there were other ways to seek out thrills around here, after all.

The quick _clop-clop_ of boots padding down the stairs broke Toph out of her thoughts, and soon enough Lu Ten was sliding smoothly onto the bench seat across from her.

"Sorry that took so long," he apologized. "Azula's leg was in worse shape than I thought, so I whipped up a splint for it. And wrapped up her chest to make sure her ribs set in place, for that matter. You really did some damage with that column pincer of yours, Toph."

"I wasn't trying to crack her ribs," Toph said, a little more defensively than she'd wanted to. "I got too into the fight and I lost control. I'm sorry."

Lu Ten shook his head.

"Don't apologize," he said. "The injuries really weren't too serious, considering... and to be honest, it'll probably do her some good to lose a fight for once. Oh, that's right," he finished, springing back up with ease and agility that surprised the Earthbender, "the soup! I'll be right back."

While Lu Ten went over into the other room to fill up two bowls of soup, Toph sunk back into her thoughts and continued to try and puzzle out just who this guy was. He'd only been gone for a few minutes and had managed to splint Azula's shin and wrap up her ribcage... and then apologized for taking too long. That showed a lot of prior experience in treating injuries— which made him either he was a physician, or a soldier. Toph didn't think that Azula was at all the kind of person who would put up with a doctor fussing over her all the time; no more than Toph would want a family guard walking with her everywhere during the day.

As if she was allowed out during the day at all... it was either sneaking out, or sitting in her room all day.

Which left just one possibility, and it was one Toph was afraid to acknowledge as the truth: the guy was military. Very likely from the platoon she'd roughed up not too long ago, and probably back for revenge. But that thought just led to another question: if he was going to attack her, why hadn't he done it yet? Better yet, why had he bothered saving her life during the duel with Azula if he was only going to take it now? She wouldn't put that past some people, but this guy didn't seem like that kind of person.

"Here we go," Lu Ten's upbeat voice broke into Toph's thoughts again, and the girl angrily reflected that she hadn't even heard his footsteps this time. He placed a steaming bowl of noodles and broth down in front of her along with a single pair of chopsticks and a mug of hot tea, moving smoothly to the other side of the table and retaking his seat.

"So," Toph said bluntly, "just who exactly are you, anyway?"

Lu Ten grunted in mock offense as he took a big bite of noodles, working through the whole group of strands and swallowing them with gusto before replying.

"Well, don't everyone thank me at once," he griped as he took a sip from his cup. "Mmm," he hummed with a smile, "Jasmine. My favorite."

"You're not answering my question," Toph repeated doggedly, but Lu Ten was unmoved.

"Eat," he insisted, this time his voice brooking no argument. "You could use something in your stomach after that fight. There'll be plenty of time to answer questions later."

Toph flirted with the idea of sending a small tremor over at this guy's feet, but thought better of it and took a bite of her noodles instead. They were surprisingly delicious, and a rumbling in her gut told the Earthbender that adrenaline was no fit substitute for actual food. She gobbled down the rest of the bowl with abandon, all of her carefully-practiced aristocratic manners forgotten as she tried to make the clenching feeling in her stomach go away.

"Don't rush it," Lu Ten cautioned her. "You'll make yourself sick."

Toph paused in draining the broth from the bowl, her eyebrows creasing into a frown.

"You speaking from experience?" she asked pointedly, and Lu Ten nodded.

"Everyone feels shaky after a life-or-death fight," he answered. "That never changes. All that changes is how good you get at hiding it from other people."

He took another few measured bites of noodles before continuing, giving Toph some more time to regain her mental balance.

"Can I ask you a question?" he said, and the girl smirked.

"When you answer mine, sure."

"Fair enough," the crown prince replied with a smile. "My name is Lu Ten."

Toph couldn't quite keep her mouth from dropping open in shock at that.

"The Warlord?" she said, not quite believing that the kind, seemingly carefree person sitting in front of her was the same person who had sat at General Iroh's right hand while he'd brought down Ba Sing Se. "'The Dragon of the North'?"

A distant smile flickered across Lu Ten's face at the title, gone almost as soon as it had appeared.

"That's a long story," he said at last, "but yes, that's me."

"Woah," Toph said, her sightless eyes widening. "I guess that explains what you were doing hanging around with Azula, then."

"Pretty much," Lu Ten said easily. "Her mother's probably going to kill me once she hears how this all turned out, though," he added, an uncertain frown crossing his face. "If her father doesn't do it first, that is…" shaking his head, the crown prince sighed and refocused his sharp amber eyes on Toph. "Now," he said, "since I answered your question, would you mind answering one of mine?"

Toph now knew just how little of a choice she had in the matter, and nodded. But before she let her questioner speak, the Earthbender slid in one more of her own.

"How much trouble am I in?" she asked evenly, and Lu Ten silently gave her credit for not wavering under the considerable pressure of the situation. He shrugged, sipping at the broth in his bowl.

"That all depends on you, actually," he said. "Technically, I could arrest you on charges of breaching our treaty with the Earth King. The lightest possible penalty for that would be three decades in jail…" he let the punishment hang in the air for a few beats, to see if Toph would begin to quail like so many others had. But the night's experience had desensitized her to fear, and she held firm. Again, Lu Ten's estimation of the young Earthbender rose.

"But that only happens if I decide to let it," he finished, letting his smile come through in the tone of his voice. Toph smirked, catching on.

"And if I tell you what you want to know," she said, "you might just let me off the hook?"

"Well, not _entirely_," the crown prince qualified, finishing off the rest of his broth with a contented sigh. "I'd be willing to commute your sentence, in exchange for your story… and one small favor."

"Which is?" Toph pressed, not sure if she liked where this was going. She hated being in other people's pockets, and especially when those people were from the Fire Nation.

"I would need you to come with me back to the Fire Nation royal palace," Lu Ten said. "I have a strong suspicion that the Avatar will be coming to live there soon enough, and she'll need an Earthbending teacher."

"Hang on," Toph broke in, her gray eyes narrowing. "Back up. What's this about the Avatar? I thought he was a _he_. Did he die, or something?"

"That's another long story," Lu Ten said, the sadness plain in his voice. "One that will have to wait for another day, I'm afraid. But whether or not you believe me doesn't matter: the new Avatar has been found, and she's going to need to master Earthbending eventually."

"Why me?"

The crown prince smiled.

"Because you're two years younger than Azula," Lu Ten answered, "and you faced down a barrage of lightning without flinching. Because you managed to help take down an entire platoon of highly-trained Fire Nation soldiers—"

"Wait," Toph cut him off, raising a hand. "'Help'? What do you mean, '_help_'? I took them all out myself, and I could do it again!"

Lu Ten's smile broadened; this was turning out even better than he'd hoped for.

"My point exactly," he replied, the intensity of his voice building slowly but surely. "And if you could do all of that now, who knows what you'll be able to do a year from now, or five. Talent like yours deserves far better than languishing in a prison somewhere because they picked a fight with the wrong person."

"I didn't start anything!" Toph said forcefully, all of the tension that had been knotting up inside of her throughout the night finally exploding. "That guy, Commander Zhao, he walked up with his thugs and acted like he owned the place! He wanted to rob my parents blind, so I kicked his ass all the way down the coastline. And if I ever hear his voice again, I'll put on a repeat performance!"

Lu Ten was silent for a beat at the outburst, and then he laughed long and loud.

"I'll be sure to be sitting in the front row when that happens," he said. "Zhao deserved that bit of humiliation, and a lot more besides. He's an ass."

Toph raised an eyebrow at that, not expecting the response she'd gotten at all.

"So, you believe me when I say that I did that?" she asked, and Lu Ten nodded.

"Why wouldn't I?" he said. "The lie would be trying to convince me you _didn't_ commit a criminal offense; not outright claiming responsibility for it."

"Oh," Toph said shortly, taken slightly aback at the obviousness of it. "I guess that makes sense." She broke off with a yawn, suddenly feeling very tired. "I should probably be getting home now," the Earthbender said sluggishly. "My parents…" she trailed off, her eyes widening sharply in horror as she realized what she'd just said.

"My parents!" she repeated, this time at a shout. "They must think I've been kidnapped, or killed or something! They're gonna freak out!"

Lu Ten raised a curious eyebrow at that, his eyes narrowing.

"They don't know you fight in these tournaments?"

"Of course not," Toph said bluntly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They don't even let me leave the house grounds—there's no way they'd ever let me fight in the Earth Rumble if they knew."

"And you don't have some kind of back-up plan in place?" the crown prince asked again, taking another gulp of his tea. Toph shook her head sadly.

"Normally I'm back home by now, and no one ever notices I was even gone," she said. "But a servant has to have checked my room since I snuck out… they're gonna freak," she repeated lowly.

Lu Ten sighed, rubbing his forehead and trying to think of a way around this snag. In the end, he decided to stick with the most direct approach possible.

"Okay," he said finally, "here's the deal. You go back home, and tell your parents the truth."

Toph's curiosity at the proposition overcame her fear for the moment, and her eyebrows both rose skeptically.

"The truth?" she echoed slowly, and Lu Ten nodded.

"The truth," he repeated. "About the tournament, about me; everything. You can leave out how close the fight was between you and Azula—that bit's not important."

"Why even bother?" Toph asked, sullenness creeping back into her voice. "It's not like they'll believe me."

"They will believe you," Lu Ten reassured her, "when I pay you a house call tomorrow morning and back you up."

A slow, awed smile spread across Toph's face as the words sunk in and she realized that she'd finally been given a chance to have what she'd always wanted. Freedom. Sure, it came at the price of training a student, but that was a small thing.

"You would really do that for me?" she asked, scarcely able to believe her own luck.

"A gilded cage is still a cage, Toph," Lu Ten said warmly. "And you should be soaring among the clouds, not staring out at them and wondering what they're like. Well," he corrected himself hastily as he saw the Earthbender smirk teasingly, "not _staring_, exactly, but… well, you know what I mean," he finished with a frown, and this time it was Toph's turn to laugh as she got up from the table and began to walk towards the door.

"You got yourself a deal, your highness," she said. "See you tomorrow morning."

Lu Ten smiled as he watched the Earthbender speed away on an undulating wave of soil, over the horizon and out of sight. The crown prince couldn't wait to see Zhao's reaction when the entire royal council got to meet the girl who had so thoroughly humbled him.

After all, if anything was going to push the commander over the edge into doing something stupid and revealing whatever backhanded alliance he had with Ozai, that would be it.

* * *

**...**

**...  
**

**A/N:** Toph! Man, I've been waiting for her to show up. I hope her appearance here was fun for you guys to read; I certainly had a blast writing those scenes. And she'll definitely be showing up again, not to worry. Also, it was really awesome to see you guys' responses to last chapter... I figured that one would be more of a 'crowd-pleaser' than the first four were, and I'm glad I was right.

Speaking of feedback, I have to give props to the newcomers once again, who came out in larger numbers than I expected: **XXGoldenEclipseXX, Yonkou Susanowo, Medusa's . Protege, Biffel,** **Sokkantylee, **and last but most certainly not least, the anonymous reviewer who left their name as **Best. Story. Ever**. Their review really blew me away, and I wish I could have thanked them properly in a PM. But given the impossibility of doing that with an anonymous review, I'll have to settle for offering up a huge "_You're Awesome_" here in the A/N. Because that was pretty much a perfect review. So yeah.

Okay, so now I suppose it's time for the tease of next week's chapter! Katara learns more about Firebending from Zuko, and Lu Ten runs into an old flame from his past on the streets of Gaoling. Who is she, and what's she doing there? Find out next week!

Until then, all the best... and thanks for reading this far!

**- Jazz**


	7. Bloom

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 7:** Bloom

* * *

Katara woke up slowly. The light of the sun gently warmed her face and lifted her out of sleep's stupor; a warm breeze blew softly past her face. She blinked twice and yawned, stirring slightly to try and wake up her lethargic muscles.

Or at least, she tried to stir. Finding her arms strangely uncooperative, Katara looked down and saw the reason for it laying right in front of her. Sometime during the night, Zuko had apparently moved over to settle next to her, wrapping his arms around her abdomen and resting his head on her shoulder. Katara could feel his chest rise and fall against her back as he breathed in and out, and she belatedly realized that the 'warm breeze' she'd felt had been coming from Zuko.

She sighed and relaxed back into the prince's embrace, not wanting to wake him up prematurely. After all, he was probably exhausted from the previous day's exertion, and Katara needed him to be well-rested if he was going to keep teaching her Firebending today.

If he even wanted to keep teaching her at this point, the Waterbender thought glumly. She'd really mucked things up last night, trying to push Zuko into teaching her the more advanced techniques. In return, he'd shut her down and showed her just how far she still had to go before she could even come halfway near his level. She would have to put aside all the years of instinct that constant Waterbending had built up within her, and Katara wasn't so optimistic as to be blind to how much work that would take.

She looked down again, her eyes catching sight of the same thin, pale-silver scar line along Zuko's arm that she'd seen revealed in the moonlight. Katara reached down and traced over the skin softly with her forefinger, wondering how he'd gotten this scar. It had probably been in another battle like the one he'd told her about last night, a thought that brought Katara back to her musings from that conversation. What was it that had compelled Zuko—only a year older than her—to collect what seemed like enough scars to rival her father? What did he have to prove?

Katara felt Zuko shift next to her, grumbling softly as he dragged himself out of his slumber.

"Good morning," she said with a smile, wondering both how long it would take for the prince to realize just where he'd moved to, and what his reaction would be when he did.

She didn't have to wait long at all.

Zuko's arms tensed their grip once, and the Waterbender could feel his chin press against her shoulder as his mouth opened in shock. His face also began to feel distinctly warmer, and Katara wished she could see the look that was plastered on it right this moment. He tried to move away, but Katara kept her hand where it was and gripped Zuko's forearm, effectively holding him in place.

"Well, now," she said slowly, getting no small amount of amusement from the prince's continually-mounting surprise. "Looks like someone couldn't stay still last night."

Zuko gave a short cough, recovering with considerable poise as he did so.

"And it looks like someone else doesn't mind," he said lowly, turning the tables. "Why else would you be keeping me here?"

Katara hadn't expected the sudden shift in mood, and began to wonder if she'd gotten in over her head. But a heartbeat later Zuko chuckled, loosening his grip and scooting away from her.

"Gotcha," he said with a smug edge to his voice, and Katara frowned.

"Boys," she huffed, glad that the prince couldn't see the blush that was quickly receding from her cheeks. Zuko laughed again, rolling to the side to stretch out his back and sighing in satisfaction as his joints popped and resettled into place. Pushing himself up into a sitting position and then rising to his feet, he turned and offered a hand down to Katara. She took it, pulling back with strength that surprised the prince as she hauled herself upright.

"Thanks," she said, brushing the folds out of her skirt before walking over to retrieve her jacket that was still sitting on the block of ice from the night before. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine," Zuko said, reaching for his own coat and shrugging it on with a light shiver. "That was some stunt you pulled yesterday," he continued, his voice serious. Katara's face fell.

"I know," she said. "And really, I _am_ sorry. I just—wanted to see if I could really do it, I guess. Bend an element other than water."

"Of course you can," Zuko said evenly. "You're the Avatar. That's your thing."

"Yeah," Katara said almost wistfully, looking over at the rising sun and stifling a yawn, "I suppose it is."

Zuko let the moment linger for a few more heartbeats before he cleared his throat, feeling an uncomfortable itch gnawing at the back of his mind.

"Look," he said, "I'm sorry I was so hard on you yesterday. It's just that fire can be a difficult thing to control. And if you just focus on creating it, rather than keeping it reined in, well…" his expression turned bitter and he grit his teeth, grinding out his next words, "you end up like my sister."

"Your sister?" Katara repeated delicately, knowing that she was treading onto risky ground but determined to learn something more about Zuko. "What's she like?"

"A prodigy," Zuko spat out bitterly. "One of the greatest Firebenders of the last three generations, no question. She's also pretty much a living example of every negative aspect of Firebending—and the last thing I want anyone to turn into. Least of all my own student."

Katara was taken aback by the resentment he seemed to have towards a member of his own family, but something else Zuko had implied made her grimace all the same.

"I hope you give me a little more credit than to think I could turn into some kind of bloodthirsty witch," she said testily as Zuko gathered his short dark hair back into a topknot, but when he turned to face her with a look of genuine sadness in his eyes, the Waterbender's temper withered and died on the spot.

"I do," he said earnestly, "but that's the most important thing to learn about Firebending: if you're not careful, it _will_ change you. All of the power you can tap into—it's intoxicating. Sooner or later, it starts to make brute force look like the only answer to problems. That's how my father sees the world, at least."

And suddenly, hearing those twin insights into Zuko's family life, coupled with how he'd talked about his cousin the night before, Katara felt several more pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

"But you're not your father, Zuko," she said as encouragingly as she could, walking over and putting her hands on the prince's shoulders. "From what I've seen, you know just how hard it is to keep that balance— you know what it takes to stay on the good side of Firebending, and that alone will make you a great teacher."

He looked into her eyes and smiled; a genuine smile that melted all of his earlier self-doubt away.

"Thanks, Katara," he said sincerely. "I needed that."

"You're welcome," she said warmly, squeezing his shoulders lightly before dropping her arms back to her sides and turning away. "We should head back to the village," she said matter-of-factly. "My parents are probably starting to wonder where we are," Katara finished, looking back over her shoulder as a flash of mischief came into her eyes, "and we wouldn't want to give them any ideas, would we?"

"No," Zuko said after a moment, his voice slightly strained as he understood what she was hinting at. "Absolutely not. I like my head right where it is, thanks."

The Waterbender laughed, and the prince knew that it was a sound he could get very used to hearing.

"Don't worry about my dad," Katara assured him, casually waving off Zuko's fear. "He might talk tough, but he's really a big softie once you get to know him."

"Then let's hope I stay alive long enough for that to happen," the prince said with a smirk, before the pair began to walk, side-by-side, back towards the village.

* * *

Lu Ten woke up slowly at first, far more tired than he'd expected to be. Almost immediately there was something nagging at the back of his mind; something that didn't feel right. When he rolled over and realized what it was, the shock was enough to make him sit bolt-upright, all fatigue vanished from his expression in an instant as he forced his heart-rate to slow from hammering to merely quickened.

Azula was gone.

Her bed was empty, the sheets strewn around in haphazard disarray. The crown prince's eyes scanned the room for any hints as to where his cousin might have gone— or what might have happened to her— coming up empty until they returned to the empty bed's single pillow. There was a piece of folded parchment sitting on top of it, and Lu Ten wasted no more time getting up, walking over and opening the note.

_Dear cousin,_ it began, and the crown prince could almost hear Azula's condescending version of politeness crooning in his ear, _by the time you read this, I'll be halfway back home. I know you're going to try convincing that worthless girl to come back to the Fire Nation and answer for what she's done. Since I'd love to see her rot in a jail cell, I'll stay out of your way this time—and next time, you had better stay out of mine._

Lu Ten cringed at the bitterness that dripped off of that last phrase; she clearly hadn't forgiven him for interfering in her duel with Toph. And considering how long Azula held grudges for, the crown prince assumed with a sad sigh that she probably never would. Closing his eyes, he thought back to the look on her face as he'd intercepted her second bolt of lightning… and he knew that if she hadn't passed out, Azula very likely would have come after him next.

Forcing the bitter taste of failure from his mouth, Lu Ten stretched out his stiff muscles and got dressed in the spare pair of clothes he'd brought with him. He took the crown prince's ceremonial head-piece out of its hiding place beneath a loose floorboard and stashed it into a deep pocket—he didn't want to go around advertising who he was to everyone in Gaoling, but if Toph's parents wanted hard proof from him to back up his claims, it never hurt to be prepared.

Moving quickly downstairs, Lu Ten bowed a polite greeting to the innkeeper.

"Sorry for the shock last night," he said contritely. "Just out of curiosity, did you hear my cousin leave?"

The innkeeper shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't," she said as she walked towards the kitchen. "What happened to her?"

"She got into a fight," Lu Ten answered, accepting the bowl of cooked pork, vegetables and broth with a smile and another nod. "But she'll be all right."

He sat down, frustrated that Azula had managed to give both him and the innkeeper the slip, but not terribly surprised by it. She'd been training with her father since the first day she could Firebend, after all—and Ozai didn't tolerate anything less than perfection.

Wolfing down the modest breakfast to drag his mind away from the politics that seemed to hound him everywhere he went, Lu Ten had a feeling for the second time that morning that something was missing.

"Do you not have anything to drink?" he called out to the bustling innkeeper, noticing at last the lack of a cup on the table.

"I'm afraid not," her voice floated back. "I used up the last of my tea leaf stock yesterday, and the boy who makes deliveries is running late. My apologies, sir."

"Don't worry about it," Lu Ten said casually. "I'll just grab a cup down at the bar. Thanks again for your hospitality."

"My pleasure," the innkeeper replied, walking back into the room and wiping her hands on her apron. "Which reminds me: if you see that friend of yours again— the young lady— let her know she overpaid the cost of your rooms."

Lu Ten smiled.

"I don't think she'll miss the money," he said easily. "She's a member of the Bei Fong family, after all. Use it to pay for the upkeep; it would be an insult to try and return a gift."

Understanding flashed across the woman's face as she seemed to remember the other detail she'd witnessed right before she'd fainted, and she smiled as well.

"Yes," she said, her voice warm with the happiness that comes alongside an unexpected windfall. "Of course."

"Have a good morning, ma'am," Lu Ten said by way of parting, before rising and walking out the door.

He was no more than three steps back inside the bustling town center of Gaoling when he felt it: that all-too-familiar sensation of having a pair of eyes burning through the back of his head, trying incredibly hard to keep him from noticing they were there by staying just on the periphery of the crown prince's awareness.

He was being tailed.

Lu Ten didn't break his stride, knowing better than to tip off his extra shadow and also knowing full well that any would-be assassin's greatest advantage was surprise. Simply by being aware of the fact that someone was following him, the crown prince had already neutralized the threat.

But even then he didn't drop his guard, keeping his muscles quietly tense and ready all the way up to the door of the bar. He opened it, pausing to look to his left and right before entering. He saw no one out of the ordinary, chuckling at his foolish hope as he walked into the dimly lit tavern.

"A pot of jasmine tea, please," he asked a waiter humbly as he sat down at a booth, nothing in his voice or mannerisms suggesting that he was the first in line for the throne of the Fire Nation. If there was one thing that never ceased to amaze Lu Ten, it was people's lack of desire to see anything other than what appeared to be in front of them. He could put on a pair of rags, go begging out on the corner for change and no one would ever think to equate the amber-eyed low-life with the Fire Lord's son, the Dragon of the North.

The waiter nodded and shuffled away, leaving Lu Ten alone again. The crown prince cringed inwardly at the thought of Toph being chewed out by her parents on his account; he'd given her his word that he would back her up this morning. But considering how pushy aristocrats could be when they put their minds to it, Lu Ten wouldn't be shocked if the Lord and Lady Bei Fong had already made their daughter deaf with their reprimands.

"Well," a low, sultry voice slipped into Lu Ten's thoughts, "this is a surprise. I didn't think someone of your standing spent their time in seedy places like this."

"People of my standing can afford to spend their time wherever they like," he replied with a smile, opening his eyes and seeing a face he'd been missing for months. "You're a horrible tail, by the way."

"Please," the gray-eyed woman said as she slid into the seat across from him, her tone downright disdainful. "You only knew I was there because I let you. If I'd really wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Lu Ten's smile widened.

"I seem to remember you wanting it a few years ago, June," he said slyly. "Look how that turned out."

"You still think you won that fight?" the bounty hunter shot back. "You still haven't accepted my offer for a rematch, your highness—sounds to me like you're afraid."

"Does it, really?" Lu Ten asked, his eyes now glinting with the same slyness that curved his lips. "Because it sounds to me like someone who wins a duel the first time around doesn't need to prove themselves again."

June said nothing, reaching across the table to grab Lu Ten's tea mug and draining it in three even gulps. She smirked at the hurt look in the crown prince's eyes as she pushed it back over to him, taking advantage of his silence to speak her piece while he refilled the mug.

"I thought you might like to know," she said flatly, all of her earlier humor completely frozen from her voice, "that there's a price out on your head."

"There're at least five bounties on me right now, if rumor can be believed," Lu Ten replied casually, sipping calmly at his tea. "What makes this one any different from those?"

"This one was opened up by your uncle's main agent."

That was enough to get Lu Ten's attention, and the tea mug stopped halfway between his lips and the table. He looked hard at June, his face transformed into the stern mask she'd first seen him wearing all those years ago, during the twilight of Ba Sing Se.

"Are you sure?"

June nodded.

"Positive," she answered. "Ozai only trusts a few people to deliver his messages out into the underworld—and even though that might be more secure, it also lets those of us who're paying attention know exactly where the hit contracts are coming from."

The crown prince willed his arm to move again, bringing the mug slowly up to his mouth and taking a long sip. He placed it back down on the wood without making a sound, and stayed quiet for long enough that June felt the beginnings of fear creeping up her spine. When the silence broke, Lu Ten's voice held the same hard edge it'd had when he'd held her own knife at her throat all those years ago, inside his command tent under the walls of Ba Sing Se.

"What's the contract?"

"Two thousand gold pieces," the bounty hunter answered, the fear subsiding as she understood that her companion hadn't reached his breaking point after all. Not yet, at least. "Dead or alive," she added lightly, almost as an afterthought, and Lu Ten chuckled.

"Of course," he said. "My uncle always did have a weakness for shows of force. How does this sound, June?" the crown prince continued, his eyes dark and unreadable. "I'll double that price, paid in full as soon as I get back to the Fire Nation… if you agree to be my bodyguard."

June's own eyes widened slowly in shock at the offer, before she leaned her head back slightly and burst out laughing. Lu Ten's expression shifted from confused to annoyed as it continued, but he waited for her to calm back down before saying anything.

"What's so funny?" he asked. "I was being serious."

"That's what makes it funny," the bounty hunter explained as she reached over and took another long gulp from the tea mug. "Do you honestly expect someone like me to accept a job as a bodyguard, Lu Ten? Especially as a bodyguard to a high-profile target like you? My job depends on having complete flexibility, in case you hadn't noticed."

"And yet, here you sit," the crown prince pointed out with an infuriatingly smug smirk, spreading his hands out in front of him. "You came to me on your own to warn me about the price on my head, rather than collecting it yourself and easing into an early retirement—something I know you wouldn't have done unless you wanted me to stay alive. So what's wrong with seeing that through to the end?"

"Please," June exhaled, her eyes narrowing dismissively. "Don't flatter yourself, your highness. I didn't kill you in some back alley because I wanted a fair fight—nothing else."

Lu Ten wasn't convinced by that for a second, and decided to try a new tack. His eyes glanced upward and caught the glint of sunlight off bone, and he smiled.

"I see you kept that after all," the crown prince mused, gesturing up to the hair band adorned with a skull-shaped ornament that held the bounty hunter's topknot in place. "I thought you said you were going to burn it?"

Lu Ten could see June inwardly cursing the turn the conversation had taken, and decided to press his advantage.

"And just because I've always wanted to know," he continued, his smile widening, "Two years ago, during that raid when my soldiers and I got ambushed…you were the one who bailed out my cousin Zuko, am I right?"

June's expression went stony, and Lu Ten knew he'd struck a nerve.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said stiffly, and the crown prince nodded.

"Of course not," he agreed smoothly. "I'm sure it was just someone else who's a crack shot with a bow, using a barbed arrow tipped with a lethal dose of Shirshu venom. There're plenty of people around who fit that description."

"You're welcome," June growled lowly, her glare bordering on murderous. "And if you're trying to get me to take your offer, you might want to be less of an insufferable jackass."

"You know you love it," Lu Ten said, hiding his smirk behind another sip of tea.

"That two thousand is starting to look more and more appetizing," the bounty hunter shot back, letting Lu Ten see her hand as it moved down toward the knife at her hip.

"Better than four?" the crown prince asked, deciding to end the bickering here and now. "Besides," he added evenly, "If you force my hand, I can just decide to collect on that debt you still owe me."

June froze, her lips a tight line and her eyes cold and sharp.

"That's not fair," she said, her voice suddenly quiet but just as frigid as her eyes. "And you know it."

"It's the truth," Lu Ten said flatly, putting his mug down on the wood with a _clack_. "And you know it. So, what's it going to be?"

She put up a good fight, Lu Ten gave her that much—but he knew June was cracking. It was only a few long moments more before she sighed, moving both of her hands palm-up onto the table in a universal gesture of surrender.

"Fine," she said. "You win. I'll do it. But I'm taking every single bit of that four thousand; that's a promise."

Lu Ten smiled, but he kept it from becoming gloating.

"I would expect nothing less," the crown prince replied, before pausing for a moment as a pang of plain regret crossed his face and his smile faded. "I'm sorry."

June's eyebrow raised in curiosity as she took his teacup again, surprised by the sharp deflation in his mood.

"For what?"

"For opening up an old wound like that," Lu Ten clarified softly. "It was uncalled for."

"Please," June countered with a snort that was just a little too casual to be convincing. "I've seen much worse than a kangaroo court. And anyway, you helped get me out of it; no harm, no foul."

The crown prince was silent, and the bounty hunter began to wonder if the fierce warlord at Ba Sing Se that had been in turn charismatic, alluring, ruthlessly cunning and surprisingly kind was the same person she was looking at now. It seemed as if part of Lu Ten was broken, the amber of his eyes hollow rather than resilient.

Where was her Dragon?

"What happened?" June asked at last, unnerved by his silence. "What's wrong?"

The crown prince blinked and shook his head, looking over at his companion like he was seeing her there for the first time.

"Nothing," he answered at last, lying and not even bothering to try and hide it. The pair of even gray eyes across from him glared until he cracked in turn, sighing and finishing off the rest of the tea.

"It's Azula," Lu Ten said solemnly. "I think I lost her."

June had heard that the crown prince's cousin was also here in Gaoling, but that still wasn't the answer she'd expected him to give at all.

"What are you talking about?"

It was one more question than Lu Ten felt like answering at the moment. He put his hands on the table and pushed himself to his feet a heartbeat later, a few coins clinking onto the table in payment as he jerked his head impatiently toward the door.

"Come on," he said with a stoic, military inflection to his voice that brooked no arguing. "I'll tell you on the way. We have a house call to make."

June rose in kind, waiting until they were out back in the open air to speak.

"And where, exactly, are we going?"

"The Bei Fong estate."

The words made June stop dead in her tracks, long enough to cause the crown prince to turn his head back over his shoulder in concern. When he saw the look on her face, Lu Ten's worry was made plain in a frown.

"What is it?"

"That's a very bad idea," the bounty hunter forced through a suddenly dry throat. "Unless you feel like fighting your way into the most fortified compound in all of Gaoling."

The crown prince's concern was gone a moment later, replaced by plain confusion as he continued walking. He soon turned down an empty side-street to make sure they wouldn't be overheard.

"Why would I have to fight my way in?" he asked. "Toph Bei Fong knows I'm coming; I promised her I'd explain what happened last night at the Earth Rumble to her parents."

June got the sense that she was on the outside of a story, but there was no need for Lu Ten to fill in the gaps.

"I'm not talking about you," she explained, "I'm talking about _me_. If I go there with you, it's going to be ugly."

"Why?" the crown prince pressed, and the bounty hunter could see sparks of his usual flame flaring behind his eyes again. It suited him.

"Because the Bei Fong household has a very large security detail," June answered slowly. "And at the top of it is Koram Senyaka."

The name sent a chilling bolt of recognition through Lu Ten's body, and all of the pieces fell into place at once with an unholy clatter.

Koram Senyaka: the head of the Red Vipers, the elite guard of Earth King Zhou, who had held the throne before his distant cousin Kuei. Senyaka had taken June in under his wing, going as far as to give her that distinctive tattoo on her bicep himself: the curved, crimson snake that marked her as a full member of the Red Vipers.

Senyaka had also thought that June had betrayed the trust of King Zhou in the worst possible way: by colluding with the enemy. After all, there was no other way he could interpret her botched assassination attempt on the Fire Nation crown prince that was miraculously followed by her safe return behind the walls of the Earth Kingdom capital. And for that betrayal, he had sworn to kill her with the same two hands that had raised her up so very high.

Except there was one thing that quelled the crown prince's fears almost instantly, a fact that June appeared to have forgotten.

"He's dead," Lu Ten said flatly. "I killed him myself. There's no way he's still alive."

"Oh, really?" June countered, her mouth curving up into a sarcastic smirk. "You honestly think a few pieces of falling stone are going to kill a master Earthbender? Don't be an idiot."

"It was more than a few pieces of stone, June," Lu Ten pressed, his eyes now a few degrees shy of outright smoldering. "It was a whole pillar of obsidian. He's dead."

"I take it you saw his body, then?"

The crown prince was silent for a few long beats, and the bounty hunter already knew what his answer would be. He didn't bother confirming her convictions.

"We're still going," he said obstinately, his shoulders giving the merest of shrugs. "I made a promise, and I don't intend to break it."

June smiled as she saw the fire was back in his eyes full force; her Dragon had come back to her at last. Lu Ten saw the look she was giving him, and his eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly with suspicion.

"Were you just provoking me?" he asked, taking a few calculated steps forward and clearly intending to pin June against the wall of the alley. She side-stepped out of the half-hearted trap, smiling slyly as she put one arm around his waist and brought her mouth right up next to the crown prince's ear.

"No," she said, her voice little more than a whisper. "It's the truth. Are you up for it?"

Lu Ten smiled in spite of himself, realizing now that June had indeed been provoking him… but in precisely the way she had known he'd needed to be provoked. It was moments like this, when she read him so perfectly, that the crown prince realized just how much he missed her.

"Do you even have to ask?" he shot back shortly, smirking. "I killed him once; if it comes down to it, I can do it again."

"How very charitable of you," June said drolly, a smirk on her face as Lu Ten turned to look at her again. "If I remember right, it took both of us to finish him off."

"You mean it took both of us to _not_ finish him off," the crown prince corrected smugly, and June grimaced as she realized she'd been outflanked.

"Shut up," she replied tersely— and for a moment, as their eyes locked, they were back in the crown prince's tent, cloaked in the shadows of Ba Sing Se's high walls that only the moonlight could pierce. All the years since that first encounter seemed to melt away, and each of them remembered what it was like the last time they'd fought someone who was genuinely their equal.

Lu Ten began the kiss, but it was June who took control and carried it the rest of the way. She'd jumped through too many verbal hoops waking him back up for the crown prince to ruin the payoff. For his part, Lu Ten congratulated himself on his foresight as he enjoyed the reunion, glad that no prying eyes would interrupt them here.

The embrace was broken a few moments later, and the crown prince's eyes were hazy in its wake.

"I really missed that," he said at last, his voice still slightly distant but steadily regaining its strength. "It's been way too long."

June gave him a level stare, her eyebrows creased ever-so-slightly into a frown.

"That's really the best you can come up with?" she asked. Lu Ten smirked and turned away, walking back down the alley towards the main street. The bounty hunter moved to follow him, and it wasn't until they'd rejoined the bustling thoroughfare that the implication of what he'd said just now hit June like a hammer.

"Wait," she said slowly, part of her refusing to believe it, "are you telling me there hasn't been anyone else?"

Lu Ten looked back over his shoulder at that, the smirk having grown into a full-blown, mischievous grin.

"Who in the Four Nations could possibly measure up to you?" he replied, eyes bright with something June couldn't quite pin down.

So she stopped trying, and instead let a smile of her own curve her mouth upwards as the pair walked down the road toward the Bei Fong compound, ready for whatever might await them there.

* * *

…

…

**A/N:** June! Another of my favorite characters joins the fray; I've been waiting to bring her in for a while now. I just hope her introduction here was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write, and she'll definitely be showing up again. Also, all of the back-story that got alluded to in her interaction with Lu Ten will be explained in time, not to worry.

I was originally going to have another Zuko/Katara scene in there to cap off the chapter. After I revised the end of Lu Ten and June's scene and it grew substantially as a result, though, I realized the chapter would have been too long with a third scene in there. So I'm just shifting it to the beginning of next chapter.

Feedback for this past chapter was fantastic as usual. All of you recurring readers are awesome, and continually topple my expectations in the best way possible. It really means a lot. And on that note, I suppose it's time for the new reviewer shout-outs: thanks and welcome once again to **Ariyah's rider **and **readingKs**.

So, now for next week's teaser! Katara continues her Firebending training under Zuko, while Lu Ten and June are forced to come to grips with a part of their shared past they'd rather forget as they pay the Bei Fong family a visit. But what exactly will Senyaka have to say to them, and what will it mean for the future?

Thanks again for reading this far, and see you next week!

**- Jazz**


	8. Wheels Within Wheels

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 8: **Wheels Within Wheels

* * *

Katara and Zuko hadn't made it more than ten feet inside the main village boundary when Lyra came sprinting towards them, skidding sharply to a halt in front of the pair.

"There you are," she said in between gasps. "I've been looking all over for you two. Where the heck have you _been_!"

"Easy, easy," Katara urged, putting a calming hand on her young cousin's shoulder. "We're both fine. Zuko was just teaching me some Firebending last night, on the outskirts—that's why we were so late getting back here. Sorry if we worried you, Lyra."

The girl paused to consider this information, her sharp blue eyes moving slowly from Zuko's face over to Katara's and back again. She smiled, a gesture that was far too knowing for Zuko's comfort.

"I see," she said, a sly smile on her lips as her tone made no secret of how she'd taken the story. "Well, I certainly hope you both enjoyed it. See you later!"

Lyra took off once more with a giggle, leaving Zuko and Katara to share an uncertain glance.

"Are you _sure_ she isn't older than she says she is?" the prince asked, and Katara sighed.

"She had to grow up fast," she replied, before shaking her head. "She'll be fine," the Waterbender continued. "Speaking of teaching, though, I'm ready to give Firebending another shot. From the beginning, this time," Katara added as sincerely as she could, hoping Zuko would let her have another chance. To her relief he nodded, and for a moment she thought she saw a small smile flit across the prince's face—but she couldn't be sure, and it was gone in the blink of an eye.

"Good," he said. "We'll start with an exercise one of my first teachers gave me. But on second thought," Zuko mumbled, scratching at his chin, "that might be a problem."

"Why?"

"Because… well, because we need a leaf," the prince said at last, and Katara had to bite back a laugh at the embarrassed look on his face. It was clear that he'd only been trying to avoid giving offense, but that didn't change the fact that it was absolutely adorable.

"Come on, Zuko," she admonished him with a smile. "Just because we don't have any trees around here, that doesn't mean we don't have leaves. We get imports of tea leaves and other stuff from the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom all the time. Where do you think the herbs we use in seal-tea come from, exactly?"

The prince looked shamefaced, but Katara decided she'd turned the screws enough and she turned around.

"I'll be right back," the Waterbender said as she hurried towards her house. "Don't go anywhere!"

Zuko smiled to himself as he watched her leave, wondering at her determination and enthusiasm. For all of the doubts she'd shared with him about carrying the burden of being the Avatar, it was plain to see that once Katara set her mind to something, she saw it through to the end—no matter what.

"So, she's already starting to learn Firebending, huh?" Sokka's voice called over from Zuko's left, getting louder as he approached. "Not bad. How's it going?"

"Pretty well, actually," Zuko answered, turning to face his acquaintance. "She saw me practicing a form last night, and picked it up almost instantly—it was rough around the edges, but I've never seen anyone take to Firebending that fast."

"Well, she is the Avatar," Sokka said with a shrug. "If you think about it that way, she's already mastered Firebending about a thousand times before, in her past lives. What's one more time?"

"That's true," the prince admitted, kicking himself for not having thought of that on his own. "And it would explain why she's so good at Waterbending."

"You're telling me," Sokka said with a chuckle. "You should've seen the look on her master's face when she was doing a better job Waterbending then him… when she was _ten_."

"Really?" Zuko breathed, unexpectedly shocked. "That's incredible." The prince looked down, seeing for the first time that Sokka was holding some kind of club in his hand; a flat piece of bone, sharpened along the edge, with an orb of hard, bluish metal resting in a groove at the top. "You use that thing to fight with?" Zuko asked with a raised eyebrow. "It looks pretty unwieldy."

"Eh," Sokka shrugged again, "you get used to it. Why; what's your weapon of choice?"

"Two _dao_ swords," Zuko said at once, and Sokka let out a low whistle.

"Impressive," he allowed. "Those're supposed to be hard to get a handle on at all, let alone master. I've heard stories of people cutting their own arms off with those things."

"They probably deserved it for being clumsy," Zuko said humorlessly, and Sokka grimaced.

"Well, we don't have anything like that in our armory," he said, brushing past the prince's comment. "But I'm sure we have some kind of sword in there—if you ever want to spar or anything, just let me know and I can grab one for you."

"Thanks for the offer," Zuko said, letting it hang in the air until he saw Sokka sigh in dejection. "But if I'm going to duel someone," he added with a smirk, "I'd prefer to pick out the weapon myself."

Katara's brother smiled at the answer, and he was about to say something when the Waterbender's own voice cut into the space between the two young men.

"If you're both done butting heads," she said with just a hint of amusement, "Zuko has some teaching to do. You can get right to beating each other senseless as soon as he's done."

"Fair enough," Zuko said shortly, nodding farewell to Sokka and turning his full attention to his student. He took a dry tea leaf from Katara's hand and turned it over a few times, frowning at how brittle it was.

"This won't do," he said. "At least, not like this. It needs to be re-hydrated."

"That's it?" Katara said. "Leave it to me, then."

With a simple wave of her arm, the Waterbender drew a stream out of the water-skin at her hip and let it flow over and around the leaf. Zuko marveled silently at Katara's control; even though the water was mere fractions of an inch above his hands, the prince didn't feel even a drop of moisture.

"That should do it," Katara said with satisfaction after a moment, drawing the water away from the leaf and back into the skin. Zuko looked at the leaf again, pleased by how much more alive it seemed. It was almost a shame to use it as a base for this exercise.

"Okay," he said firmly. "Let's get started." Pressing his forefinger into the center of the leaf, Zuko brought just the barest trace of heat to bear on the foliage. A light sizzle rose into the air, and a second later a glowing red circle had expanded from the leaf's center, hollowing it out before coming to a stop with about a half an inch of leaf to spare.

"I want you to concentrate on this leaf," Zuko explained. "Get control over the flame burning within it, and keep that fire from reaching the edge for as long as you can."

He held the leaf out to his student, and Katara shifted into the squat stance she'd seen Zuko use before taking the leaf by its stem and concentrating. Breathing in and out like Zuko had taught her to, Katara blocked everything else from her mind and focused entirely on the leaf. Breathing in and out and in and out, she closed her eyes and tried to reach her innate Firebending sense out to the nascent flame.

And what she felt then caused her to gasp in surprise.

It was like having a second heartbeat; one she could hear and feel and hold in the palm of her hand. The fire felt alive, yearning and longing to be free from the constraint of the leaf. Katara held it back as best she could, but the fire kept trying to consume the rest of the leaf, and the Waterbender could feel her endurance beginning to flag. She reached out to the fire again and tried to stop it, pleading with it, reasoning with it, trying to convince it to slow down… but nothing was working. The fire struggled and fought and thrashed against her control, and with one final push it broke through the barrier completely.

Katara could feel the leaf fall apart in her hands, leaving only the fire in its wake, and she bit back a frustrated sigh as she opened her eyes. The flame fluttered between her hands, unbridled and wild and alive, but the Waterbender brought both of her hands together and snuffed it out.

"Damn it," she cursed, her frustration only deepening when she looked up and saw the wide-eyed look on Zuko's face. "I know, I know," she groused, "that was terrible. You don't need to say anything."

"What're you talking about?" the prince exclaimed, finding his voice again. "That was amazing. I've never seen anyone go for so long on their first try!"

"What're _you_ talking about?" Katara repeated lowly, grudgingly unwilling to accept what was obviously charity. "I was only doing that for two minutes, tops."

"Two?" Zuko repeated, laughing. "Try twenty."

"Twenty? I was doing that for _twenty minutes_? But… it felt like no time at all!"

"That's what happens when you concentrate hard enough," the prince answered, smiling. "Time flies. You did great; now it's time for step two."

"Which is?" the Waterbender pressed, enthusiasm creeping back into her voice at last. Zuko took two more leaves and had Katara re-hydrate them, before creating burning holes in each of them and handing them both to his student. Katara took one in each hand, and realized what the test was a heartbeat before the words left Zuko's mouth, accompanied by a plainly smug smile.

"Two leaves at the same time," he said. "Now, you're only going to be able to hold them at bay for so long. And this time, when the flames break free, I want you to focus on keeping each of them at identical intensities for as long as you can. Say… about this strong," Zuko finished, creating a flame in the palm of his hand around four inches high.

"If you can learn to split your focus in half and keep two flames reined in at once, you'll have completed the first major step in mastering Firebending. And remember not to let frustration influence the flow of your _chi_, either," the prince cautioned. "If you let positive and negative emotion co-exist in your thoughts, your fire will die."

"Got it," Katara said, closing her eyes and settling back into the basic squat stance. As Zuko turned and began to walk away, the Waterbender opened her eyes again.

"Wait," she called out. "Where're you going?"

"To spar with your brother," Zuko answered without turning around. "You'll be able to concentrate better without me staring at you the whole time. Speaking of," he finished, disappearing over a small hill, "pay attention to those leaves!"

Katara looked down and saw that the rings of fire had almost eaten through the leaves completely. She quickly settled back down and re-focused, splitting her attention in half and concentrating until she could feel both small fires smoldering like tiny living creatures, gnawing fervently on the edges of the leaf. Hardening her will, Katara stopped trying to cajole the flame and instead ordered it to stop, imposing an iron chain of control around each of the burgeoning fires. Opening one eye to sneak a glance at the leaves, the Waterbender was pleased to see that they were still there.

And by the time Zuko came back from sparring with Sokka, Katara promised herself, she would still be holding two leaves in her hands—just to prove him wrong.

* * *

"So," Lu Ten spoke into the silence as he and June drew closer to the Bei Fong estate one step at a time, "where's Nyla?"

"Resting in a stable not too far from here," the bounty hunter answered, her voice turning subtly maternal in a way that brought a smile to the crown prince's face. "He deserved a bit of time off… and as much as I love the guy, he really does stick out in a crowd."

"That's an understatement," Lu Ten said lowly, forcing him to move sharply out of the way of June's fist as it tried to make contact with his shoulder. "What was that for?" he asked after he was sure she wasn't going to try again. "It's the truth!"

June said nothing, passing into silence as her eyes shifted out of focus— the crown prince guessed she'd sunk back into some memory or another, and it wasn't too long before he was proven right.

"I've been wanting to ask you this for a while," she said at last, glancing over at her companion. "That night… why did you come after me?"

Lu Ten raised a curious eyebrow, not sure where June was going with this.

"You mean other than saving your life?" he countered. "I knew that if Senyaka went through with his 'trial', your head was going to be on a spike. I wasn't about to let that happen; not to you."

"That's what I mean, though," June pressed. "Why did what happened to me even matter to you?"

The crown prince gave a smile that was equal parts bittersweet and wistful at the question.

"I knew what danger I was putting you in when I spared you after our little duel," Lu Ten answered, his voice even. "That made me responsible for getting you out of it."

The bounty hunter bit back her frustration with the crown prince's roundabout answers, understanding that he probably didn't even realize what he was doing.

"But if you knew the problem it was going to cause," June continued, hoping that this would be the last question in the line, "why did you even spare me to begin with?"

Lu Ten's step hitched at that, and as he recovered his pace he looked over at his companion like she'd just sprouted wings.

"What kind of a stupid question is that?" he countered, his voice tinged with something that sounded like indignation. "I spared you because I didn't want to kill you, June. Because anyone who has the steel in them to do what you did deserves a reprieve for it, at the very least."

A sly smile spread across the bounty hunter's face; she didn't believe for a second that the crown prince was telling her the whole truth.

"And what happened after we got out of Ba Sing Se alive?" she prodded, inwardly pleased to see the slightest of shivers run through Lu Ten's shoulders at the mention of the memory that was still clearly very vivid in his mind. "Are you sure your mercy had nothing to do with that?"

"Absolutely," he answered a little too quickly, his tone clipped. "I had no idea that was even going to happen—you made the first move, remember?"

June's smile widened at Lu Ten's rare display of discomfort, but she held herself back from outright laughter.

"Relax, I was just teasing," she said easily. "I didn't think anything could get under your skin, your highness. Looks like I was wrong."

But Lu Ten had already recovered his footing, and shot June a sly smirk of his own.

"All the same," he said, "that was quite the nice fringe benefit."

"Pig."

The crown prince's smirk widened.

"Pot," he countered simply, "meet kettle."

The bounty hunter chuckled at that, but when she saw Lu Ten's face grow contemplative again, she knew what he was about to say and the mirth died on her lips.

"And then you fell off the face of the earth for a few years straight," he spoke up at last, sounding something close to hurt. June's eyebrows creased into a deep frown.

"You say that like it was what I wanted to do," she said with a hint of sharpness to her voice. "I only left because your army took over the city, put a puppet ruler on the throne and walked away. Do you think I had a choice after Long Feng started purging everyone loyal to King Zhou?"

The crown prince knew better than to say what came to the tip of his tongue first, so he swallowed that and tried a different approach.

"You could have at least let me know you were alive, before showing up out of the blue to save Zuko. I just assumed I was never going to see you again."

June kept her reaction to the smallest of flinches, but the much plainer hurt in Lu Ten's voice this time around was impossible to ignore. She opened her mouth to apologize, but before she could say anything he spoke into the tense silence.

"We're here."

The pair stopped walking and looked up at the high main gate crowned with the golden boar sigil of the Bei Fong family: a large, sturdy door of brown wood stood in between any would-be guests or petitioners and the estate itself.

And standing in front of the gate, clad in plain green and white armor and wearing a wide, disc-shaped hat, was Koram Senyaka. His green eyes looked down at them from a height of at least six and a half feet, as cold and calculating as June and Lu Ten remembered from all those years ago.

"Greetings, Crown Prince; June," he said evenly, without a trace of malice in his voice. "It has been far too long."

Lu Ten waited tensely for his old enemy to attack him, or call up a group of the household guards to drive them off—but after a few moments passed in a strained silence without either of those things happening, the crown prince let himself slowly relax.

"I have to admit," he said as he gave Senyaka a searching gaze, "this isn't quite the welcome I was expecting; least of all from you."

The large man smiled, a gleam in his eyes that turned the expression from cheerful to decidedly mocking.

"If I'd wanted to attack you," Senyaka countered simply, "do you really think I'd have let you get here untouched before doing so? Besides," he finished, "killing you before you've said your piece to the Bei Fongs would hardly be fair to Toph; she's been waiting for you to show up all morning."

"And afterwards?" June stepped in, finally breaking her silence. Her former commander turned to face her intense gray eyes, his expression unyielding.

"Whatever grudge I had to bear against you died with King Zhou and the rest of his family," Senyaka answered. "I hold no loyalty to the pretender sitting on the throne in Ba Sing Se now, and even less to his cursed puppet-master."

Lu Ten nodded, more than capable of understanding the shifting nature of friendships and enmity during and outside of wartime.

"May we speak to the Bei Fong family, then?" he asked with all the formal politeness expected of a guest, only to be met with a solemn shake of the head from the captain of the guard.

"Not yet," Senyaka replied evenly. "Toph's parents assumed their daughter was lying through her teeth when she told them you were coming to visit this morning—I only knew better because I've had news of your presence here since that stunt your cousin pulled last night at the Earth Rumble. That gives us time to talk, before I formally announce your arrival."

"What could we possibly have to talk about?" Lu Ten asked, an edge of irritation seeping into his voice. But the guard's expression never darkened—if anything, it became conspiratorial.

"Something that concerns both the Earth Kingdom," Senyaka explained, "and your family, Crown Prince."

* * *

A few minutes later, the three of them were sitting in a room that was part of one of the several smaller buildings that made up the Bei Fong estate. Two pots of tea had been brewed and were steeping on a low table, with June and Lu Ten sitting on one side while Senyaka took up the space across from them.

"June," the large man spoke calmly after a few moments of silence, "if you have something to say, say it. Don't stand on ceremony with me; those days are long gone."

"I wasn't a traitor," the bounty hunter said at last, her voice edged. Senyaka sighed as he lifted one of the pots and poured himself a cup of tea, before doing the same for his guests.

"I know," he said lowly as he placed the pot back down and waited for his tea to cool. "I wasn't going to execute you, I hope you realize."

"Really?" Lu Ten broke in, his voice heavy with scorn and disbelief. "You certainly didn't sound like it at the time."

"I was only saying what the other Vipers wanted to hear," Senyaka insisted. "The city was about to fall, and they were out for any blood they could get their hands on. I needed to keep them pacified somehow."

"And June was going to be your sacrificial lamb, is that it?" the crown prince pressed, his unoccupied fist clenching at his side underneath the table. The older man fixed him with a stony gaze.

"Close your mouth and open your ears, boy," he said bluntly. "You might learn something that way.

"Like I said," Senyaka continued, "I was never going to kill June. I was planning on simply throwing her into a dungeon and letting her out the next morning… it was you showing up out of nowhere, Lu Ten, that almost ruined everything. It turned the Vipers' suspicions of June's treachery into what they saw as proven fact."

"But… why would you have made me leave?" the bounty hunter asked, confused. "I could have helped you."

"Which is why I had to get you out of Ba Sing Se," Senyaka clarified. "If you'd stayed, you would have most likely died when the city fell. And even if you'd survived, Long Feng would have made sure you disappeared along with the rest of our number once he assumed power."

As Lu Ten took a sip of tea, he couldn't keep his thoughts from wandering back to the night after the treaty had been signed and Kuei had been placed on the throne.

"_I still don't understand why you felt like you had to come all the way out here, Ursa,"_ he'd told his aunt, unwinding over a plate of steak and allowing himself satisfaction at last over the successful conclusion of the long, bloody siege. _"Don't Zuko and Azula need you back home?"_

"_Because this is important," _Ursa had said sharply. _"You can't let someone like Kuei become the Earth King. Your father needs to understand that."_

"_Why not?"_ Lu Ten had countered._ "There's no one else Ba Sing Se would accept; Kuei is Zhou's last surviving relative."_

"_And an impressionable, naïve idiot," _Ursa had snapped, steel in her voice that had caught him off-guard. _"Put Kuei on the throne and Long Feng will play him like a _qin_. That man is a snake."_

"Crown Prince?" Senyaka's gravelly voice broke into his memories. "Are you well?"

Lu Ten blinked and nodded, willing the recollection to recede from his mind.

"I'm fine," he answered curtly. "Did you say something?"

"Only that my presence in Ba Sing Se didn't end that night you tried to crush me under a column," Senyaka said with a grim half-smile. "I still have a few pairs of eyes in Ba Sing Se that the Dai Li haven't been able to ferret out… and a contact elsewhere, as well."

The crown prince thought back to what the other man had intimated earlier, and it only took him a few seconds to put the pieces together.

"Ursa," he said, his tone carrying the ring of fact. "She's the one in my family you were talking about; she has to be."

Senyaka nodded.

"Quite so."

"Why?"

"Because one of my people in Ba Sing Se informed me that Long Feng had sent some of his agents into the Fire Nation royal palace," the captain of the guard answered, "no doubt to entrench themselves there and wait for the right moment to strike, according to their master's orders. I knew Ursa had never trusted Long Feng, so I wanted to make sure you got news of this development to her."

Lu Ten let the revelation sink in silently, unpleasantly surprised by the possibility that his own home had become infested with spies. June glanced over once in his direction, her expression tinted with concern, before she recovered her footing and spoke.

"And just who is this source of yours in Ba Sing Se?" she pressed pointedly. "Can they be trusted completely?"

"Of course," Senyaka replied, a trace of affront in his voice that his old protégé would even question his judgment. "You remember Jet, don't you?"

June snorted so sharply she would have splashed tea everywhere if her cup hadn't been resting on the table. Her eyes widened in shock at the name of the brash boy Senyaka had introduced to her several years ago, just before the Siege had begun in force.

"Jet?" June echoed. "Please tell me you're joking. That kid wouldn't recognize subtlety if it knocked his damn teeth out."

"You'd be surprised," Senyaka spoke through a chuckle, but left it at that.

"Does this Jet kid know who the spies were that got sent out?" Lu Ten asked, but knowing better than to expect an answer.

The older man shook his head.

"He didn't say anything definite; only that he'd overheard Long Feng discussing the matter after it had been finalized. Jet's on the edge of a razor as it stands… he knows better than to stick his neck out too far."

Silence settled back over the trio, and it lasted until Lu Ten was certain there was something else Senyaka was waiting to drop.

"And?"

The older man finished the last of his cup.

"Long Feng also mentioned something about an alliance with General Ozai."

"Of course he did," Lu Ten said bitterly, his expression darkening as the knot finally untangled in his head. "Because if my uncle wants to take the throne from my father, he would need the backing of Ba Sing Se to pull it off."

Senyaka nodded gravely. After June and the crown prince had both finished their own cups, the trio rose to their feet.

"I'd imagine Toph is starting to get quite angry," the captain of the guard spoke with something like paternal concern in his voice. "We should go put her mind at ease, don't you think?"

Lu Ten nodded distractedly, forcing his thoughts away from the uncertainty that Senyaka's information had buried so deeply in his mind.

"Yes; of course," he said at last. "Lead the way."

* * *

To say the atmosphere in the main room of the Bei Fong household was tense as the trio entered it would have been an understatement along the lines of declaring that dragons were potentially harmful if enraged. Toph's face was screwed up in an expression of obvious anger, and the calm impassivity of her parents was wearing thinner and thinner by the moment.

"May I present," Senyaka's voice boomed out, recalling the authority of the soldier he'd once been, "Crown Prince Lu Ten of the Fire Nation, Warlord of the Siege of Ba Sing Se— also known as the Dragon of the North."

The announcement shattered the tension into tiny shards, with Toph turning around sharply and flashing the crown prince a relieved smile as her parents looked over to regard Lu Ten coolly.

"It is an unexpected privilege to receive a guest of your standing, Crown Prince," Lao Bei Fong began, his voice clipped and formal. "I only wish you'd sent word of your coming before you."

"With all due respect, Lord Bei Fong," Lu Ten said evenly, "your daughter did tell you I was coming, did she not?"

"She did, yes," Lao's wife Poppy replied gracefully, seeing her husband's vexation and picking up his slack. "But you will forgive us, I hope, for dismissing such words as mere flights of fancy. Toph is a girl who has had, by necessity, very little contact with the outside world—and I'm afraid these stories of hers are how she compensates for it."

Toph grit her teeth, hung her head and said nothing, but June could see the lines of clenched frustration carved onto her face as plain as day. The bounty hunter empathized all too well with the young girl's anger—a long time ago, she'd been in a situation not too different from the one Toph was facing now, and it struck close to her heart.

"And yet," Lu Ten said gracefully, "the honesty of the young can provide much wisdom to those of us who have grown stubborn in our aging… if we listen, of course."

Poppy smiled, pleased that their refusal to listen to their daughter hadn't provoked the crown prince's anger.

"Of course," she echoed, relieved.

"Now," Lao Bei Fong broke back in, ruffled by what the crown prince had implied, "may I ask why it is that you've come all the way here?"

"Certainly," Lu Ten replied smoothly, keeping his piercing amber eyes locked on Lao's face as he spoke. "It concerns a crime perpetrated here in Gaoling not too long ago: the excessive use of force brought to bear against Commander Zhao and his troops."

"Zhao was the initiator of that whole skirmish," Senyaka intoned threateningly, his earlier politeness all but frozen from his voice. "If you're trying to imply that Toph is the one at fault—"

"Peace, Captain," Lu Ten cut in calmly but sharply, raising a hand and giving him a glance over his shoulder that spoke as loudly as a shout. "I am aware of the details, but what matters here is that someone in this town took what they thought was justice into their own hands, rather than allowing the Fire Nation to handle the breach of conduct on their own.

"It was that choice that constituted a violation of our treaty, and it was that choice that brings me here today."

"Be that as it may," Lao said firmly, his voice stoic, "that still doesn't explain why you've come here. We didn't have anything to do with that… incident."

"Except that you did," the crown prince countered insistently. "The person who beat Zhao back and scattered his troops was your daughter."

The room was silent for another tense moment, and then Lao Bei Fong's patience came to an explosive end.

"What?" he shouted, incredulous. "How dare you come into my house and make such a baseless accusation! My daughter is blind; she is blind and tiny and helpless and—and fragile. There's no way she could have done what you're claiming! If you persist in telling such lies, royalty or no, I'll have you escorted out."

June looked over and saw the anger, shame and sadness warring on Toph's face as the blind girl's head remained hung, but it was the sight of a single tear running down her cheek that snapped the last of the bounty hunter's self-control.

"You're disgusting," she said to the Bei Fong patriarch, not bothering to hide a single drop of the loathing in her voice.

"I beg your pardon?" Lao said, his voice low.

"Oh, I think you heard me just fine," June said, her tone harsh. "You're disgusting. You think that just because your daughter's blind, that makes it okay for you to lock her up in here like an animal?"

"We're doing this for her own good," Toph's mother broke in, her voice pleading. "She needs to be protected from the outside world."

"Does she?" June pressed, unrelenting, her hard gray eyes turning to bore into the woman's face. "Sounds to me like you're making that choice for her."

"June," Lu Ten said warningly, but the bounty hunter paid her companion no heed.

"Have you ever asked Toph what she wants to do?" June said forcefully, struggling to keep her voice from rising as memories of her own childhood came unbidden into her mind's eye. "Have you ever once given her any kind of choice?"

"She's a little girl!" Lao insisted stubbornly, oblivious to the fact that his daughter was now quivering with rage. "She can't make these kinds of choices on her own!"

"Yes," Toph spoke up, the strength of her voice silencing everything else in the room, "I can." She took a deep breath, looking up to face towards her parents. "Dad, mom," she said calmly, "what I told you last night was the truth. I love fighting; I love being an Earthbender. And I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept that part of my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the _whole world_.

"You were doing it to protect me, I know," she continued gently, looking over at her mother, "but I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend. Lu Ten said I could go to the Fire Nation and train the Avatar to Earthbend, and I want to do it. Don't take this the wrong way, but I really, really need to get out of here."

Toph's parents were silent for several moments, and the girl dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, she'd gotten through to them.

Hopes that were suddenly shattered by the sound of her father's disbelieving tone as he spoke up.

"Toph, enough of this foolishness," Lao said, and the girl begrudgingly held her tongue. "I don't know why you bothered to come all this way, Crown Prince," Lao continued, turning to face Lu Ten and spitting out his title like it was something poisonous, "but whatever kind of game you're playing, I'm not amused. Koram," he finished, turning once more to face the captain of his guards, "please see the royal and his companion out. They are no longer welcome here."

"But—!" Toph started to protest, before Lao cut her off.

"I want you to know that what's happened here today doesn't change how we feel about you, Toph," he said calmly. "In fact, it's made me realize something."

"It has?" the Earthbender asked curiously, an inkling of hope beginning to rise again in her chest.

"Yes," her father affirmed, clearing his throat. "We've let you have far too much freedom," he continued, once again oblivious to his daughter's feelings as Toph's face took on an utterly crushed expression. "From now on, you will be cared for and guarded twenty-four hours a day. No more going out at night to those fighting tournaments of yours."

The girl turned her sightless eyes to face the floor once again, her entire body shaking with a single suppressed sob.

"I'm sorry, Toph," Lu Ten said softly as he turned away, feeling the all-too familiar weight of failure resting on his back.

"I'm sorry, too," she replied. "Goodbye, Lu Ten."

June reached out and gave Toph's shoulder a comforting squeeze as she left the room, before picking up her pace and falling in at the crown prince's side.

"What do you think you're doing?" she whispered harshly. "We can't just leave her there."

"Yes," Lu Ten answered tiredly, "we can. What do you want me to do, kidnap her?"

"If that's the only way to pull this off," the bounty hunter said, "absolutely."

Lu Ten looked June full in the face, his eyes searching.

"Since when do you care so much about someone you don't even know?"

June opened her mouth to reply, but before she could Senyaka's voice broke into the conversation.

"What are you after, Lu Ten?" he asked quietly, but with unmistakable intensity in his voice. "One moment you talked as if you were going to prosecute Toph on the spot, and the next she was claiming you'd told her she could teach the new Avatar Earthbending. So which is it?"

"Both, in a way," the crown prince equivocated. "I'd made a deal with her that if she consented to teaching the new Avatar Earthbending, I would get any charges brought against her for attacking Zhao to go away."

Senyaka was silent for a few moments at that, his green eyes inscrutable.

"So, it's finally happened, then?" he asked. "A new Avatar has been found?"

June's mouth curved down into a tight frown, her eyes narrowing in barely-suppressed anger.

"If this is going to turn into some kind of long-shot scheme for you to get your revenge on Long Feng using the Avatar," she said coldly, "forget it. That war's over; we lost."

The older man turned to face his former protégé, and for a moment his expression was once again surprisingly paternal.

"Anything I would do, it wouldn't be for me," he said firmly. "In all the years I've served the Bei Fong family, that's the first time I've ever seen Toph cry."

June went quiet, more than a little ashamed that she'd misread Senyaka so badly.

"Here's what we're going to do, Lu Ten," the captain of the guard continued. "Swear an oath to me right now that no harm will come to that girl. I'm not concerned about Long Feng's agents; those vermin will only go after you and your immediate family. It's Zhao that worries me."

The crown prince nodded.

"I'll keep her safe. You have my word on that."

Senyaka nodded.

"Very well. Be back here at nightfall; I'll see to it that Toph is free to come with the two of you. And since I'd likely be put in charge of any searching party formed to locate her, well…" a small, mischievous spark came back into his eyes. "I don't think anyone will be bothering her for some time."

June gave her old commander a grateful smile, glad to see that the war hadn't bled all of the kindness from him.

"We'll be here," she said. "That's a promise."

Lu Ten said nothing, glancing curiously over at June as they made their way out of the Bei Fong estate.

What had gotten under her skin back there to provoke her so strongly?

* * *

**...**

**...**

**A/N: **Whew, so that's that. Sorry about the length, but I couldn't push anything back another chapter and still keep the pacing where I wanted it. The plot thickens! Also, Jet (off-screen). This is where things start to ramp up; believe it or not, we're only a few weeks away from being halfway through the story. Craziness, I know. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; the feedback you guys have been leaving so far has been awesome, and continues to exceed my expectations by far. I really can't thank you enough.

Speaking of feedback, time for new-reviewer shout-outs: **teenanime, DakotaDaydreamer-XOXO, **an unnamed anonymous reviewer, **Random Reader, **and last but certainly not least, **Like A Dove**. Thanks for taking the plunge, guys and gals- it means a lot.

So, time for next week's teaser! Azula returns home, and Ozai wastes no time in giving her a task to perform for him. At the South Pole, Zuko and Sokka bond over a spar, and Katara's test of the leaves comes to a close.

Hope to see you all then!

**- Jazz  
**


	9. Ostraka

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 9:** Ostraka

* * *

"Rise."

Azula got to her feet and waited for her father's scathing rebuke, willing the muscles in her injured leg not to spasm as she shifted weight off of it. She couldn't show weakness in front of him, or she'd be no better than Zuko.

"I am glad that you are still alive, Azula," Ozai said evenly, catching his daughter off guard. "I have matters of great importance to discuss with you, and you alone."

"You're not angry with me?" the princess hazarded, suspicious of a trap. Ozai gave a small shrug, the gesture hampered by the armored plates resting over his shoulders.

"I will admit to being surprised at you, for underestimating an opponent," the General answered, "but I trust you won't make such a basic error in judgment again."

"No," Azula said, with all the seriousness of a vow. Ozai nodded and motioned with a sweep of his hand to the seat across from him; the princess took it and sighed quietly as the tension bled out of her injured leg.

The light from the fireplace danced and scattered across the heavy oaken table that dominated the center of Ozai and Ursa's main room; carved into its surface was a smaller replica of the world map that sat on the floor before the Fire Lord's throne.

"I'm glad to hear that," the General replied, with just a hint of a smile. "The pieces I've been moving into place these last few months are almost ready, and I'll need to know I can count on you to perform when the time comes."

"Of course you can, father," Azula said, feeling a rush of relief but being careful to keep it from entering her voice. "I merely await your command."

"Good," Ozai said evenly, casting his eyes down at the map and zeroing in on the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se. "Very good. Soon enough, the throne and title of Fire Lord will be mine, and we can start undoing the crippling damage my foolish brother has done to the Fire Nation. All that stands in our way," the General finished, bringing his forefinger down on top of the large, raised dot, "is Ba Sing Se. But with you at my right hand, Azula, the city's fall is only a matter of time."

"Me?" the princess said, suspicion creeping over her once again. "What about Commander Zhao?"

Ozai looked taken aback by the question for an instant, but then he threw his head back and laughed loud.

"Zhao?" he echoed when he'd calmed back down, laughter still coloring the edges of his voice. "The man is a fool. More than that, he's a fool who believes himself to be indispensable. Which, in the end, makes him absolutely superfluous. No; he'll ruin himself with his own stupidity sooner or later—what matters is that when Zhao falls, you are ready to take his place at my side."

Azula felt her pride swell, but a sudden and bitter thought reined her back in.

"What about Lu Ten and my brother?" she asked, her voice level as still water. "The Crown Prince would surely stand behind his father in the event of a coup, regardless of all his blabbering about pacifism and not wanting to fight his own family… and Zuko's always listened more to his uncle than to you."

Ozai smiled, a sharp, cruel slash that was only deepened in its intensity by the smoldering backlight of the fire.

"While I applaud your foresight, Azula," he said as calmly as ever, "those two stumbling blocks are already in the process of being removed. With a little luck, Zhao will take care of Zuko on his own—and Lu Ten, unfortunately for my brother, will never see these shores again."

The princess let out a slow breath, reassured that the two biggest obstacles standing in their way had already been accounted for. But really, knowing her father, that was to be expected.

She pointedly ignored the guilt that sat like a stone in the pit of her stomach, until it threatened to show on her face. Azula crushed it then, biting back a curse at her mother for giving her such weakness.

"So," she broached after a moment, once she was sure she'd calmed down, "what would you have me do?"

Ozai fought to keep a smile from his face, but inwardly he was immensely pleased that Azula hadn't expressed any second thoughts about the idea of a pre-emptive strike on their enemies. Family or no, they posed a very real threat to his ascendancy—and that was something the general simply could not allow.

"I have a special task for you, Azula," her father answered. "I need you to go into the palace library, find my brother's cache of Airbending scrolls, and destroy them all."

The princess initially balked at the idea of being sent on such a pedestrian mission... but when she understood what it would accomplish, a vicious smile spread across her face and she nodded.

"With pleasure, father," she said, her voice low. Ozai nodded once, a gesture of dismissal; Azula rose, bowed and left the room. Turning into the wide hallway, she found herself walking by the portraits of Fire Lords past. Beginning with Sozin's predecessors, they were all the very images of proud, fierce and unyielding warriors—Sozin himself was the pinnacle of the martial emperor, the comet streaking above his head symbolic of his greatest achievement. His son, Azulon, Azula's own namesake, was equally stoic, following in his ancestors' tradition.

When she came to her uncle, however, the princess's smile of admiration turned down into a hard frown. Iroh had the gall to be _smiling_ in his portrait, his slightly rounded belly and relaxed pose completing an image that seemed more at home on a jolly shopkeeper than on the ruler of the greatest empire the Four Nations had ever seen.

But of course, if her uncle had his way, Azula thought darkly as she continued walking down the hallway, the Fire Nation would be hobbled for the rest of time. Iroh honestly believed that peace treaties could hold the same sway as dominance achieved through conquest—the sheer naïveté of it made Azula sick to her stomach. How such a man had ever taken the city of Ba Sing Se, she would never understand. The lion's share of the work had probably been shouldered by Lu Ten, but her cousin had always been tight-lipped when it came to stories about the War.

When he was talking to her, at least. The princess knew for a fact that Lu Ten always told Zuko whatever he wanted to know—things that the crown prince never bothered to share with his other cousin. Knowledge of battles fought and military tactics learned through costly trial and error… wisdom that was utterly wasted on a weakling like Zuko. It was another mystery Azula was sure she would never be able to unravel—why the half of her family that had risen to power were so clearly the ones profoundly unworthy of it. The mere fact that the Northern Water Tribe's high-walled city even posed a problem at all was the most glaring symptom of an illness that ran deep.

A problem that now, finally, she had been given a chance to help solve.

The doors of the great royal library were wrought in iron and stood at the very least five times taller than the princess, but they were well-maintained and a hard shove was all it took to part them just wide enough; an opening mechanism pulled them the rest of the way. They swung open with only the tiniest hint of a creak, one testament to the Fire Nation's ingenuity among hundreds of others that dotted the palace. The library was composed of shelves upon shelves of scrolls that seemed to stretch up to near the top of the high-vaulted ceiling, illuminated by a series of windows that let sunlight pour in by day and moonlight by night. Scores of librarians bustled around the long, wide aisles, looking for stray scrolls to organize or visitors to assist.

A quick scan of the aisles revealed the filing system's basic layout, and a few minutes later Azula had made her way past the history, agriculture, engineering and art history sections to arrive at her destination: the collected knowledge of all four Bending disciplines. The knobs at the ends of the scrolls were engraved with the symbol of the bending art they contained, making the princess's job even easier. The Airbending scrolls were thinning and yellowing with age, one of them dotted with brown smears shaped like fingerprints that Azula assumed had to be ancient bloodstains. Sozin had been ruthless in his genocide of the Air Nomads, but his desire for total victory demanded that he rob them not only their physical livelihoods, but also everything their culture had produced.

And now, the princess thought to herself as a thrill arced up her spine, one of Sozin's own bloodline was going to finally finish what he'd come so close to completing all those years ago. And in one fell swoop, the Avatar would be permanently prevented from ever fully realizing her power.

The sheer poetic beauty of it was almost enough to bring a tear to the corner of her eye.

"If you don't mind me saying, Princess," a calm voice spoke up from behind Azula, causing her to spin around sharply to face whomever had the audacity to sneak up on her, "I never thought you would be interested in… antiques."

The speaker was a young man, whose nondescript voice had left Azula to be caught completely by surprise at the sight of his body. He was hunched over and obviously physically crippled, holding a walking stick in one hand to keep himself upright that was three feet long if it was an inch. He was covered from head-to-toe in dark red fabric, with strips of cloth covering almost all of what his librarian's robes failed to reach. Only one of his eyes was visible, and the dulled green of it barely flickered with life.

Azula backed up a step and a half on instinct, and only the shelf behind her stopped her feet from moving even more. Someone who was that deformed and that covered by cloth had to be afflicted with some kind of wasting disease, and those were highly contagious more often than not. The young man seemed to read her thoughts effortlessly, and the muffled sound of a dry laugh came out from behind the cloth strips that covered his mouth.

"Don't worry," he spoke thinly into the silence. "My sickness has already run its course; I'm not going to be spreading it to anyone else."

The princess let out a slow breath she didn't know she'd been holding, shifting her expression effortlessly into a smugly superior sneer to cover for her earlier discomfort.

"That's good to know," she said offhandedly. "What business of yours is my taste in scrolls, refugee?"

Azula could see the librarian's mouth curve up into a smirk as the cloth around his mouth shifted to accommodate its movement.

"Refugee?" he echoed, sounding more curious than offended. "What makes you say that, Princess?"

"Your eye," she said succinctly, before turning and busying herself with collecting the rest of the Airbending scrolls on the shelf. "It's green, which means you're from the Earth Kingdom. And someone as wretched as you has to be a refugee…" she paused, finding the unexpected puzzle surprisingly interesting. "The only question," Azula finished, her eyes narrowing slightly, "is why you would come all the way here. Running away from something, perhaps?"

The smirk widened.

"I thought that was the definition of 'refugee'?" the librarian parried, and the princess had to fight to keep one corner of her mouth from turning down into a frown.

"Semantics," she said bluntly, with a hint of acid. "The poor migrating in search of opportunity is nothing new—but for you to come right into the heart of the nation that took over your homeland, whatever you're running from must be serious."

The librarian shrugged.

"The gravity or levity of any situation is entirely relative," he answered, his one good eye showing some signs of brightness again. "What might seem insurmountable to a common soldier, the gifted general can overcome in a single day."

Azula recognized the quotation as easily as if she'd said it herself, and this time she let the corner of her mouth move—upwards.

"Fire Lord Azulon, after his victory at Han Tui," she said dryly as she turned back around to face him, her gathering done. "Cute."

The sarcasm in her tone wasn't lost on the librarian, but he only smiled and shrugged.

"I've been working in this place for years," he said replied simply. "The old ghosts in these scrolls are all I have for company; I know them quite well indeed.

"But to answer your earlier question," the young man continued smoothly, "I was just wondering what someone like you might want with those scrolls. They're awfully depressing reading, after all."

"I couldn't care less about the fighting forms of a dead, pacifist civilization," Azula snapped back, her initial morbid curiosity at the librarian's appearance quickly shifting into plain annoyance. "I need these scrolls for something important, and that's all there is to it."

She pushed her way past him, the bag she was carrying at her side now heavy with the weight of the Airbending scrolls.

"You really think the only things on those are illustrations of forms?" the librarian's voice called out after Azula, the barest hint of dark amusement apparent in his muffled voice. "Even a people as detached as the Air Nomads still had their ways of recording their lives."

The princess was about to turn back over her shoulder and deliver a scathing reply to end the conversation, when a different—but familiar— masculine voice did it for her quite unexpectedly.

"Xian, stop hassling the lady already. I'm sure she has better things to do than look at your ugly face."

The newcomer's appearance provoked Azula to turn all the way back around to face him, her annoyance at Xian's pointed questions thoroughly transformed into seething, icily-contained anger.

"Hello, Chan," she said, her hand clenching the leather strap of her borrowed library bag hard enough to make it groan. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, just some research, for the Officer's Exam," the admiral's son said with nonchalance that the princess now recognized as utter stupidity. She'd been blinded for a time, both by his looks and by some base, irrational part of her that seemed to want to be around someone like him. But then he'd dropped her for Mai without so much as a second thought, as soon as his father and Mai's father had seen the mutual benefit of their match.

Azula had sworn that night that she would never let herself get used like that ever again, but the pain of it still cut deep even as she tried to forget it completely.

"You have to go through the examinations?" she asked, her voice as subtly sharp as a shard of broken glass. "What, does your father not love you enough to pull the right strings?"

Xian snorted in derision from behind his cloth, causing Chan to turn and punch him sharply in the gut without a single word of warning.

"Shut up, cripple," he grit out as the librarian doubled over even further and had to grip his walking stick with both hands in order to avoid falling to his knees altogether. "Don't think you can make fun of me and get away with it."

Chan turned back to Azula and smiled blithely, as if his little aside with Xian hadn't even occurred. He said something, but the princess's eyes were focused on the librarian behind him. Xian straightened himself as best he could, while readjusting his grip on his walking stick. It was what he did after that, however, that grabbed Azula's attention.

The glare he gave Chan's back with his one good eye was surprisingly intense and unmistakably murderous, leaving no doubt at all in the princess's mind that if he'd had the strength, the librarian would have snapped Chan's neck with his bare hands right then and there. He turned and began to limp away a moment later, the shuffle of his feet a soft counterpoint to the hard _thud_ of his walking stick.

"Azula? Did you hear what I said?"

The question jolted her back into the present, and she gave her former boyfriend a look of total indifference.

"No; I was paying attention to something much more important," she said with cutting casualness.

"I said the military officers would give me a much better starting position if they knew I'd taken the tests myself," Chan repeated, oblivious to Azula's insult. "I'm going to climb the ranks without my dad's help."

The princess was about as eager to discuss Chan's long-term career plans as she was to get eaten alive by a komodo-dragon, so she deftly changed the subject to something she actually did want to know.

"Where's Mai?"

Chan just shrugged at the mention of his fiancée, indifference bleeding plainly through his expression.

"Off in Ba Sing Se with her parents on some financial negotiation, or something," the admiral's son said dismissively. "Her dad insisted that she go with him, so she did. Man, I've met snail-slugs that have more of a spine than her, I'll say that much."

_She has ten times the spine you ever will,_ Azula thought to herself as she bit back the reflexive urge to burn half of Chan's face off, _she just knows better than to waste her time on someone like you._

The princess returned Chan's shrug after a moment, declining to dignify the jab at Mai with an actual response.

"Well, it was nice seeing you," she lied through her teeth, before beginning to walk back over towards the exit to the library. Chan said something to her as she moved away, but Azula blocked it out and kept on going. She was just about at the giant double-doors when a different voice called out to her.

"Princess Azula, if I might trouble you for a moment?"

It was Xian, but the librarian's voice possessed none of the cold, killer instinct that had lurked in his eye for the briefest of moments. Still, the princess stopped and turned; if it would mean helping her solve the rather odd puzzle that this malformed refugee presented, she could spare a moment.

"What is it?" she asked with practiced imperiousness, and Xian's good eye shifted down to regard the bag hanging at her side.

"Those Airbending scrolls," he said with a hint of hesitation in his tone, before bringing his eye back up to focus on Azula's face, "I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave one or two of them here."

"Why?" the princess pressed back, her eyes narrowing. "Didn't I already tell you I need them for something important? What more do you need to know?"

"I don't _need_ to know anything more," Xian insisted. "What I _already_ know is that those scrolls are priceless, irreplaceable and unique artifacts. It would be a terrible loss if any of them were to be damaged or misplaced, let alone all of them."

Azula's expression hardened even further; deliberate or not, the librarian's words had still hit far too close to the mark for her comfort.

"Then it's a good thing I'm not going to damage or misplace them," she said icily. "But please, do feel free to challenge my father on this—he's the one I'm getting the scrolls for. I'd love to see what he might do to you."

The implied threat had its desired effect, and Xian's next protest died in the back of his throat. Before he turned and left, though, his lone eye darkened again and he fixed the princess with a glare equally as harsh as the one he'd aimed at Chan. Azula had to fight to keep a shiver down as the librarian's stare stabbed through her like a spear-thrust, but it ended almost as soon as it had begun. Xian turned and limped off without another word, the _thud_-shuffle rhythm of his movement resounding in the silence.

The princess was out of the library and back in the safety her room before she let herself tremble ever so slightly, squashing the reflex as quickly as she could. She took the Airbending scrolls out one by one and chucked them into the greedy blue flames that burned in her fireplace, feeling her sense of balance return little by little as each one was reduced to ashes.

Azula was about to toss the last one on to the flames when her amber eyes caught something that made her hesitate; it was the same blood-spotted scroll she'd seen earlier, and it had come slightly unwound during her return from the library. Thanks to that, Azula could see traces of scribbled notes in the margins—her curiosity took hold, and she unwound it the rest of the way. The scribbles were extensive, but her eyes instinctively came to rest on the largest chunk of writing.

_I fear,_ the note began, _that I have failed Aang. I let the other abbots lay the burden of the Avatar across his shoulders far too soon, and I can see the isolation and weariness breaking his spirit by the day. A twelve-year-old should be playing, exploring, making friends; even Roku found time to relax when he came here to train all those years ago. I fear this pressure will strangle the love he bears inside him… the love without which the Avatar is nothing. I try to do what I can to ease his training from day to day, but I can already tell the overbearing expectations of the abbots are making him more of a soldier than a monk…_

_I suppose I can only hope that one day, Aang might come to forgive me… and even to forgive Sozin, for the War that ended his childhood before it had even begun._

The note was dated three days before the first arrival of Sozin's Comet.

Azula felt something stir within her as she pulled herself away from the scroll, afraid to read any more of the monk's personal thoughts. She crushed the sudden knot of emotion in her stomach, throwing the final scroll into the flames as she did so.

The princess drew hollow comfort from watching the last piece of Airbender cultural heritage wither and die, but it wasn't enough to keep a single tear from sliding from the corner of her eye down her cheek.

Azula let it fall.

* * *

Sokka watched impatiently as Zuko continued to 'prepare himself', as he'd put it: shifting the sword from one hand to another, testing its weight and inspecting the slightly-curved blade for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Are you done yet?" he asked at last, wondering if there was gold folded into the _katana_, or something else of value he'd just failed to notice all this time.

"Almost," Zuko said distractedly after a few more heartbeats. His intent gaze passed over the length of the blade one more time, reading the inscription carved along the flat of the blade. "This sword," he continued more loudly as he shifted the _katana_ back to his dominant hand and lowered it into a neutral position, slipping it back into its sheath, "where'd your people get it from?"

Sokka shrugged, as much to loosen his shoulders back up as anything else.

"I'm pretty sure we grabbed it after Yon Rha's raid—it's definitely not one of ours."

"No," Zuko agreed, "it isn't. I think—I think it might have belonged to my uncle."

"The Fire Lord?" Sokka said in surprise, and Zuko nodded. "I guess that _could_ be possible… I mean, gran-gran did tell us that he came here to study with us once. But why would he leave a sword like that behind? And why put it in the back of the armory, rather than in a place of honor?"

"Beats me," Zuko admitted, stepping closer to Sokka and assuming a formal dueling posture, both hands on the hilt of the blade and the sword pointing out in front of him. "My uncle does a lot of things for odd reasons. I'll have to ask him about it next time I see him."

Sokka stepped forward in kind, readying his covered club and beginning to slowly circle his opponent. In the few years he'd spent training with his father, a single lesson had been pounded into his head over and over again as the most important thing to learn about fighting duels: when facing an enemy for the first time, you always let them make the first move if you could. Plunging headfirst into a close-quarter fight with someone you knew nothing about was among the fastest ways there were to get yourself killed.

Zuko seemed to have heard something quite similar growing up, because he started circling in the opposite direction. Sokka could tell from the prince's movements that Zuko was a far more veteran soldier than he was, and knew that he would have to rely on the treacherous ground and a pinch of luck if he was going to win this. And since they were sparring with their weapons blunted, it would be almost impossible to crack the snow-covered ice beneath them.

The tension that had been building up between the two young men finally snapped as Zuko rushed forward, deathly silent as he raised the sword up and brought it sharply down in front of him. Sokka brought the club up quickly and blocked the strike, but he felt the shock of the impact all the way up to his shoulder. The prince sprang backwards, lowering his sword down to a neutral position and beginning to circle once more.

"Not bad," Zuko said. "You didn't lose your grip on your weapon, which is the most important thing. Next time, though, use your other arm to absorb part of the impact—if you can't dodge, that is."

Sokka's pride rankled at being subjected to an informal training session, but he had to acknowledge that Zuko made a good point. The Water Tribe warrior let out a slow breath to calm his nerves, reminding himself to look for possible openings in his opponent's stance. The sword Zuko was using hadn't been forged with the idea that its wielder would be fighting while the blade was still sheathed, obviously. That extra weight would be enough to slow Zuko's swings down by at least enough to make them predictable— a big advantage to have, as long as Sokka could make that lag work for him.

Zuko lunged again, smiling to himself as he saw his opponent holding his ground. So Sokka was going to try to dodge, and hit him when his momentum had betrayed him into creating an opening? It wasn't a bad strategy—the prince would at least give him that much—but it relied on the assumption that Sokka would be able to dodge him in the first place. He brought the sword straight up, biting back a smile as Sokka raised his club to block the same kind of blow that Zuko had made just a few moments earlier. The prince shifted the trajectory of the sword with consummate skill, turning his hands lowering the blade to point down, perpendicular to the ground. Successfully undercutting Sokka's block, Zuko turned his hands again until the _katana_ was pointing forward once more, jabbing it forward in one smooth thrusting motion aimed right at the core of his opponent's solar plexus.

The prince was already too committed to the attack to break off when Sokka suddenly crouched and rolled hard to the right, passing right under the sheathed blade as he moved. Zuko's eyes widened d he bit out a sharp curse as he tried to avoid what was coming, but he was already too late. Sokka sprang up right next to him, whipping his club around right into Zuko's midsection. The prince staggered backwards, winded and stunned as he fought to clear his blurring vision; only a last-second tightening of his chest muscles had kept Zuko from losing his footing entirely.

"Here's a little something I picked up along the way," Sokka spoke into his haze, "just to make us even. Never get so caught up in an attack that you're not ready to dodge a feint."

"You don't need to tell me that twice," Zuko grunted at last, sliding the _katana_ into the space between his sash and his hip, anchoring it there and signaling an end to the duel. "That was sneaky," he continued after he'd gotten his second wind, "hiding something like that. I assumed you were just an amateur."

Sokka smiled.

"Your mistake," he said with another casual shrug. "Not mine. And besides, I might not be a genius, but even I'm smart enough to know that you always keep your aces up your sleeve."

"Fair enough," Zuko allowed, realizing that he had been gravely mistaken in his assumptions about Water Tribe martial prowess. Their lack of technology had made them very resourceful—an aspect of their character that Zuko would never be foolish enough to underestimate again.

"I'm going to go check on Katara," the prince said after a moment, forcing his back to straighten up as he walked off.

He slowly made his way over towards where he'd left Katara to train, wincing every few steps as his core muscles rebelled at being forced to work injured under the strain. When he finally reached the Waterbender, Zuko's pain vanished in a brief moment of shock as he saw her clutching the two leaves tightly in her hands. Katara's eyes were screwed shut in concentration and numerous beads of sweat dotted her forehead, but apart from the obvious mental exertion she seemed to be okay. Moving as quietly as he could in spite of his injury, Zuko reached two fingers out tentatively and placed them against the hollow of Katara's throat, checking for her pulse.

The prince sighed in relief as the thumping came through at just a little faster than normal. He'd heard horror stories from Master Jeong Jeong about Firebenders who worked themselves to such an extent that their hearts gave out, and that was the last thing Zuko wanted to see happen to Katara. Her skin felt cool and slightly clammy to the touch, though, and Zuko knew that it was time to bring the exercise to a close.

"Katara. Katara, it's me."

The Waterbender's eyes opened slowly at the sound of his voice, and she gave a drawn smile.

"I did it," she said softly, her voice thin but still filled with pride. "I didn't let them burn."

"You did great," Zuko complimented her, smiling in kind. The praise seemed to be the only thing that Katara had been waiting to hear; her eyes slipped closed again as her exertion finally caught up with her and she passed out.

The prince kicked himself mentally for not keeping a closer eye on his student; next time, he wasn't going to pose any lesson in the form of a challenge. Sighing, he lifted Katara's limp body into a bridal carry and trudged off towards her house—where a warm bed waited for her, and some well-deserved rest.

Zuko knew that his guts were going to hurt like hell tonight, but this was more important. A good teacher, his uncle had told him once, always took responsibility for the well-being of their students. As he came to within sight of the chieftain's house, the prince found his thoughts drifting to his family; somehow, he doubted that Iroh had ever shared that bit of wisdom with his brother.

* * *

**...**

**...  
**

**A/N: **That was one tough chapter to get just right, to put it mildly. Probably the largest amount of revisions I've done on a chapter so far this story, mostly because I wanted to make sure everything was exactly where I needed it to be. From here on out, to quote one of my favorite police officers, all the pieces matter. I hope you all enjoyed reading the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it; the Azula section in particular was a lot of fun, even if it was on the heavy side of things. Her Elektra Complex is just brutal. At least Sokka was around to provide some levity, and some more Zutara goodness.

And speaking of Greek stuff (look up Elektra if you don't know who she is, then go read the _Oresteia_ by Aeschylus), this chapter's title refers to an Ancient Greek political custom of scratching the names of people that the voting members of society wanted exiled or banished onto pieces of broken pottery, called _ostrakon _(plural,_ ostraka_)_._ It's where we get the word _ostracize_ from, in fact. Aren't languages cool? And since two of the classes I'm taking right now are Latin and Greek, expect more where that came from in chapter titles to come.

But I digress. It's "Thank-You" time again for new reviewers, and this week is a big one. **jadelyn3352**,** Light1172**, **chubbyninja89**, **wrathofbalance2** (who did absolute yeoman's service going through and reviewing almost every single chapter of the story), and, last but most certainly not least, **D'Avoir un Coeur.** She's one of the earlier anon reviewers, in truth... but since she not only came out into the light, but also dropped another completely awesome review that got me writing some more after a bit of a dry spell, I figure she more than deserves a second mention.

Also, I'd be terribly remiss if I didn't send out a broader "Thank-You" to all recurring reviewers and constant readers as well. It's completely because of you that this story is on pace to break 100 reviews in just nine chapters, which is obscenely awesome. I couldn't be happier that this story has been so well-received so far, and I hope it continues to be. You guys are the best, and your encouraging feedback is what keeps me motivated to write when so much other stuff is making my life insane. Again, you all are fantastic.

And now, finally, we come to the teaser for next week's chapter! Zuko spends a little time with Kya and more than a little with Katara, and a guest comes to dinner who wastes no time in making it awkward. Lu Ten and June return to the Bei Fong residence to take Senyaka up on his word, but the old soldier has one last thing to leave them with. Meanwhile, Ozai continues to plot, scheme and be a general rotten apple. What's he after now? And better yet, who's working with him?

See you next week, and thanks again for reading this far!

**- Jazz  
**


	10. Masks

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 10: **Masks

* * *

Kya was busying herself over a few pots on the stove when an unexpectedly harsh wind stirred up, blowing past the thick canvas covering the door and snuffing out two of the carefully-maintained coal fires. She grumbled a choice curse and sighed, reaching over for the matchbox that was running ever-lower.

"Please," Zuko's voice broke in as one of his hands moved in front of the matchbox, "allow me."

The prince used his free hand to quickly and precisely re-ignite the embers with two thin jets of flame, and the kitchen was saturated in the delicious aromas of cooking food a few moments later.

"You're too kind, Zuko," Kya said warmly as she stirred a large pot of stew back to a boil, while Zuko tended to a smaller pot being used to brew seal-tea. The prince snatched up a few herb sprigs and crushed them between his fingers, sprinkling the leaves into the pot and watching with satisfaction as the broth changed color, from a pale gold to the dark amber he'd remembered seeing the last time he'd drank it.

"I'm impressed," Kya complimented him, eyebrow raised skeptically as she regarded Zuko. "Where'd you pick that up?"

"I saw Lyra making it," he answered casually as he stirred the broth slowly with a wooden spoon. "It's much easier to make than regular tea—my uncle looks like he's about to throw up every time I brew him a pot of Jasmine."

Kya laughed, and Zuko felt his heart ache as he was reminded of his own mother; back in the Fire Nation by now, surely, and a long way away from here.

"It just takes practice," she assured him gently. "No different from anything else. I remember when your uncle came here to study our Waterbenders—your mother couldn't make a decent cup of tea to save her life. By the time they left, though, it was halfway-drinkable."

The mention of his uncle brought Zuko's thoughts back to the sword he'd left on the bed in his room, and he frowned.

"When my uncle was here," the prince began, still distractedly stirring the seal-tea, "did he have a sword with him?"

"I think so," Kya mused, a slight frown creasing her mouth as her eyes clouded with the recollection. "But that was so long ago now, I can't quite remember; sorry."

"Don't apologize," Zuko replied easily, his eyes drawn to the appetizing sight of seal-steaks searing over the largest of the fires. His stomach suddenly rumbled with hunger, which in turn sent a fresh wave of discomfort rippling out from his bruised midsection. He grimaced through the pain, continuing on as if nothing was wrong—but Kya's eyes were too sharp to be fooled by the act, and her frown deepened.

"What's wrong?" she asked pointedly, but Zuko waved her off.

"I'll be fine," he answered, continuing to labor over the seal-tea.

"Zuko," Kya said sternly, her eyes narrowing as her voice took on a distinctly maternal tone, "tell me what happened to you."

The prince knew that holding out against a serious mother was pointless. He sighed.

"Sokka and I were sparring, and he got the drop on me," he explained. "It's just a bruise; that's all."

"Right," Kya shot back with a snort, "and I've never heard that one before." She put down the long fork she was using to cook the meat and rounded on the prince, taking a commanding step forward. "Let me see it."

Zuko loosened his sash slightly, lifting up the bottom of his burgundy tunic just enough to allow the dark bruise to be seen. Kya drew in a sharp breath through her teeth, her expression shifting from concerned to furious.

"I can't believe he did that," she said lowly, her voice almost a growl. "Didn't he know how much thinner Fire Nation fabric is than our own clothes? Boys," Kya finished with a sigh. "Okay, I'll finish up here. You go to Katara's room, and get her to patch that up. Kanna and I will find you some proper clothes tonight, so this doesn't happen again."

"It's fine, really," Zuko insisted, but his voice didn't even convince himself. Kya picked up the meat fork again and brandished it at Zuko, jabbing it towards him.

"Go on," she said shortly, trying and failing to hide a smile. "Shoo. I'll call the both of you when dinner's ready."

Zuko turned and left, realizing that if he stayed, he would just be wasting his breath on an argument he would never win. Walking at a leisurely pace as not to aggravate his injury any further, the prince made his way over to Katara's room, poking his head in through the canvas barrier that passed for a door.

"Katara—" he began, only to have the rest of the words stick in his throat as his eyes widened in surprise at the sight in front of him.

The Waterbender was standing a few paces away from her bed, in the middle of changing her clothes. Her back was bare down to her waist, and as Zuko yanked his head back through the canvas and leaned against the wall, breathing shallowly, he thanked the spirits of the dragons that she hadn't been facing toward the door. The prince shook his head rapidly to clear it, but the image he'd only seen for a few scant seconds seemed to be seared into his retinas. He breathed in and out to calm himself down and closed his eyes, but even then he could still see the shape of her back, the top of it covered by her long, dark-brown hair…

"Can I help you, your highness?"

The tone of the whisper would have sent a shiver up Zuko's spine even if he'd been ready for it; as it was, he let out a strangled gasp and almost jumped out of his skin. Katara gave a full laugh at his obvious discomfort, walking the rest of the way out of her room as she did so. Zuko averted his eyes in a heartbeat, not wanting to embarrass himself so badly a second time.

"Don't worry," Katara said, a smile in her tone. "I'm decent. Seriously, though: what do you need?"

"Your mother noticed I took a hit when I was sparring with your brother earlier," the prince explained, his eyes still closed and fixed firmly to the floor. "She wanted you to heal it."

"C'mon," the Waterbender said, taking Zuko by the forearm and pulling him into her room. She led him over to the foot of the bed and sat him down on it, before taking a step back and looking down at him impatiently.

"Well? What're you waiting for?" Katara asked after a few heartbeats had passed in silence. "Dinner's going to be cold by the time we're finished, at this rate. Let me see what Sokka did to you."

Zuko lifted up his tunic again, and the same low hiss that had escaped her mother's lips earlier issued from between Katara's teeth at the sight of the deep red-and-purple bruise. What she said, however, was much less civil than her mother's words had been.

"I'm going to murder him," the Waterbender half-growled, her eyes sharp as she surveyed the extent of the injury. "How could he have been so stupid?"

"He got the drop on me," Zuko repeated, his voice the same weak level of insistent. "It was a fair hit—"

"Shut up," Katara said firmly, and the prince did just that. "I'll deal with him later. You; take that off, lie down and don't say anything else until I'm finished."

Zuko complied, tossing his tunic onto the floor before easing himself back against the soft sealskin blanket. He shivered as the cold air nipped at his flesh, but as soon as Katara had placed the bubble of healing water against his skin, that strange warmth began to course through his body and the cold faded from his mind.

"He really nailed you," the Waterbender said softly, her voice twisted with knots of worry. "If he hadn't been fighting with his weapon covered, he'd probably have busted one of your internal organs. I'm going to murder him," she repeated with fierce conviction, sending a sharp prickle of fear through Zuko and reminding him to never get on Katara's bad side. She was even scarier in a bad mood than Mai was.

Mai…

The thought of his old girlfriend sank like a pit in Zuko's stomach. And as much as he tried to forget about her and just focus on the feeling of his muscles knitting themselves back together, it still festered. Desperate to push the last lingering, absurd strands of guilt from his mind that he was still feeling over something that wasn't even his fault to begin with, the prince forced himself to think of Chan, the bastard that Mai's father had coerced her into marrying. Because even if it was customary to call Zuko 'Prince', he wasn't the next in line for the throne… and Admiral Chan's allotted slice of territory was directly next to the land controlled by Mai's parents, giving her father a golden opportunity to expand his holdings.

Which had forced Mai to break up with Zuko, a rough split that had happened only a few weeks before the prince had heard news of the Avatar.

Of Katara.

"… Zuko? Did you hear what I said?"

"Wha?" he said hazily, blinking and trying in vain to focus on the present, torn between the soothing feeling of Katara's ministrations and the sinking sensation still lingering in his stomach. "No," he said, slightly more coherent this time, "I didn't. What is it?"

"You have a little internal bleeding going on," the Waterbender repeated, her eyes dark with worry. "The impact from Sokka's club shouldn't have been enough to cause this; did you do anything else after you got hurt?"

Zuko winced as he anticipated what Katara's reaction would be when he told her what he'd done, but he also knew better than to lie to her. Especially when he was on his back, shirtless, injured and completely at her mercy.

"When I went to check up on you, after the spar was over," the prince said slowly, "you were passed out. I… picked you up and carried you back here."

Katara was silent for a few heartbeats, but Zuko could tell just by looking in her eyes that she was struggling to keep herself from hurting him any worse than he already was.

"I hope you realize," she said with a sigh that seemed to drain all of the anger out of her, "how incredibly stupid and unnecessary that was. You could have given yourself a hernia."

"I know," the prince said quietly. "But you exhausting yourself was my fault; I wasn't about to just leave you out there to freeze."

"_Your_ fault?" Katara replied, eyebrows raised. "How is a choice that I made, on my own, in any way your fault?"

Zuko smiled at that, enough strength returned to him now that his sense of humor was finally reviving itself.

"Do you really think that you would have pushed yourself anywhere near as hard as you did, if I hadn't said you wouldn't be able to keep both of those leaves intact that whole time?"

The question gave Katara pause. She grimaced awkwardly as she searched for a way out of the bind Zuko had put her in, finding none.

"Okay," she acquiesced at last, returning her hands to the prince's injury and continuing the healing process, "you're right. Let's just both admit we screwed up, and call it even?"

"Works for me," Zuko answered with a weak smile, which vanished into a sigh as Katara increased the potency of her _chi_ to stop the internal bleeding for good. "For a second back there," he continued after a few heartbeats of silence, "I thought you were going to have a heart attack. Just promise never to freak me out like that again."

"Sorry about that," the Waterbender apologized, shifting her hands slightly and moving into the last part of the healing process. "I won't push it so hard next time; I promise."

She was quiet for a moment, and then her eyes lit up as a spark of inspiration flared behind them.

"How does this sound, for a compromise?" she said, drawing the water away from her hands and back into her carrying skin. "I can teach you some Waterbending forms!"

Zuko was puzzled by the suggestion at first; but after a moment of thought, he understood where Katara was going with it. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he smiled and nodded.

"Sounds like a deal to me," he agreed. "If my uncle learned something during his time down here, the least I can do is try to pick up a thing or two myself." The prince paused for a moment, running a hand tentatively over his now-healed abdomen. Feeling no pain or discomfort whatsoever, Zuko looked up at Katara with wonder plastered plainly on his face.

"You're amazing," he said appreciatively, and the Waterbender nodded.

"And don't you ever forget it," she replied. "That's two times now I've bailed you out since you got here. What would you ever do without me, Zuko?"

"Get a hernia and die of internal bleeding, apparently," the prince answered wryly, earning himself a playful punch on the shoulder. She was about to say something when the thumping sound of a fist knocking on the wall next to the canvas door seeped into the room, followed closely by Kya's voice.

"The food's on the table," she said. "Come out whenever you're finished; just don't take too long or it'll get cold."

Zuko rose to his feet and squatted down to pick up his tunic, putting it on and turning to face Katara.

"Shall we?"

She smiled and gestured toward the door.

"After you."

The pair moved back out into the main room, where a table had been set for seven: Bato, Hakoda's best friend, appeared to be joining the family for dinner. Zuko tensed, anticipating the direction the conversation was likely to go and having no desire to discuss anything even remotely related to war or politics. The prince felt a slight pressure on his hand, and looked over to see that Katara had moved up beside him, giving him a reassuring squeeze.

"It'll be fine," she whispered. "Mom, Kanna and I will make sure things don't get out of hand. Trust me."

Zuko gave a small smile.

"I do."

Hakoda sat at one end of the table, while Kya took the other. Bato and Kanna had one side to themselves, while Katara sat in-between Zuko and Sokka on the other side.

The prince hadn't even finished his third bite of seared seal when Bato cleared his throat pointedly, and Zuko steeled himself.

"So, Prince Zuko," Bato began, "what do you think the odds are that the Fire Nation will start a war with our Northern sister tribe?"

Zuko chewed and swallowed deliberately, taking a long pull on his cup of tea before answering.

"Right now, there's still relative peace up North," the prince said. "If anything, the few confrontations we've had have been initiated by the Water Tribe military getting too uneasy with our presence there."

Bato gave a hard chuckle at that.

"I can't blame them," he half-grumbled. "What with your patrols pinching their supply lines down to a trickle, and all—"

"Enough," Kanna said quietly, but with enough force in her tone to shut Bato up. Zuko finished the rest of his meat in silence while Katara berated Sokka for injuring him so badly and Kanna made up her scolding in earnest by regaling Bato with a story from her youth in the Northern Water Tribe. When a natural lull came in the conversation, Zuko spoke into the silence.

"My uncle has been doing everything he can to maintain the peace in the Earth Kingdom territories we now occupy," the prince said calmly, "including allowing the king in Omashu and the governing body in Ba Sing Se to retain their respective authority. I can tell you from experience that the Fire Lord hates the idea of a prolonged war more than anything; as soon as the Northern chief agrees to a treaty, that will be the end of it."

"Which begs the question, Zuko," Hakoda broke in from his end of the table, "why hasn't an agreement been reached yet, if the Fire Lord is so eager for peace?"

The answer was as obvious as it was painful to admit, but Zuko swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke through his shame.

"My father," he said bitterly. "My guess is that the Northerners suspect he might try to take the throne from my uncle at some point… and they're preparing to face what would happen then."

"And how likely," the chief said slowly, "do you think a coup would be?"

"As long as my cousin is alive," Zuko said resolutely meeting Hakoda's gaze with a hard glare of his own, "there's no way anyone but my uncle will sit on the throne of the Fire Nation."

The air in the room was leaden, and Katara shot her father a glare that was equal parts angry and disappointed. Hakoda's face betrayed nothing, and Zuko respected that: like any good leader, he put the good of his people ahead of his own emotional concerns. It was a hard line to walk, and not that many could toe it—yes, the prince reminded himself, he had vastly underestimated these people.

"Speaking of your uncle," Kanna ventured calmly into the tense silence, "I couldn't help but notice the sword on your bed earlier, Prince."

Zuko's eyes widened slightly in surprise at that; had his initial hunch been right after all?

"So, that weapon did belong to him?" he asked. "I understood some of the inscription, but only bits and pieces."

Kanna nodded.

"He brought it here when he stayed with us," she explained, taking a sip of her seal-tea and giving a faint smile at the memory. "Took me a while to wheedle the story of it out of him, but that _katana_ was given to him by his father, Fire Lord Azulon, after Iroh had won the honorary title of 'Dragon'. The inscription is in the archaic language of the Fire Sages, which is probably the reason why you only understood a little of it.

"I could never make heads or tails of it, though, and your uncle was a stubborn old goat when he wanted to be. Never told me what it said."

"Did he tell you anything else about it?" Zuko pressed, eager to know something about the earlier days of his uncle's life. For all the stories he would tell, few of them touched on the days before the Siege of Ba Sing Se.

"He did mention that it was forged by a master Fire Nation blacksmith, a young prodigy," Kanna said. "By special commission, to boot, so there probably isn't another sword quite like it in all the Four Nations. I'd take good care of it, were I you."

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, puzzled. "I'm going to give it back to him as soon as I return to the Fire Nation—it _is_ his, after all."

Kanna just chuckled, shaking her head.

"He left it here three decades ago," the old woman said insistently. "And knowing Iroh, there was a reason for that. Whatever it was, he wanted to separate himself from it. But it still belongs to your family—I don't think it's coincidence that you were the one to dig it out of the back of our armory, Zuko."

The prince pondered the words in silence, chewing stubbornly on a clump of seaweed for several moments before swallowing it with an audible gulp.

"Well, I think that's enough of politics for one night," Kya spoke up, gracing both Bato and her husband with warning glances. "Katara, I heard the Prince has been teaching you some Firebending—how's that going?"

"Quite well, actually," the Waterbender said obliquely, studiously avoiding the details of her recent over-exertion. "Looks like I really am the Avatar after all," she added lowly, prompting a smile from her brother.

"Don't worry about knocking us over with your enthusiasm or anything," he joked, attempting to lighten the mood. It didn't quite work, as Katara's shoulders remained slightly hunched, but a thin smile did grace her lips.

"Is that so?" Kya asked pointedly, looking at Katara over the rim of her cup to hide her expression. "Because I heard from a little bird that someone pushed themselves to the point of exhaustion this afternoon, and had to be carried back to their room."

Katara couldn't quite hide the blush that spread across her face at that, and Kya gave Zuko a private smile of thanks. The prince felt his whole body relax—finally, he knew for sure that he was in Katara's parents' good graces. As far as one of them went, anyway.

But that was still a solid start, and much better than nothing. He didn't feel like a complete stranger here anymore, tomorrow Katara would be showing him some Waterbending forms, and he'd finally have a change of clothes that could keep the damn cold off of his back. One step at a time.

Things were looking up, Zuko thought to himself with a small smile—a smile that only grew wider as he felt Katara's free hand come to rest over his own underneath the table.

One step at a time.

* * *

General Ozai looked up from his desk at the sound of the knock, the letter in front of him half-read as he rolled it up and placed it back inside one of the many drawers built into the piece of furniture.

"Enter."

The door opened with slow deference, and a moment later Chan stepped into the general's quarters. The admiral's son stepped to the side to make room for the next visitor to enter, recognizable by the distinctive _thud_-shuffle rhythm of his steps a few heartbeats before his cloaked, bandaged form made it all the way into the room. Xian leaned hard on his walking stick with one arm while he pushed the door shut with the other, and when it had shut fully with a telltale _click_ the librarian turned to face Ozai.

"General," he said evenly, inclining his head in a respectful nod. After giving Chan a chance to follow suit and realizing that he wasn't going to, Xian continued. "We thought you might want to know that Azula did exactly as she was told. The Airbending scrolls have been taken care of."

Ozai fixed the crippled young man with a hard, searching glare.

"And you have proof of this, do you?" he pressed. Chan stepped in then, all too eager to take the spotlight from his associate.

"I broke into her room after she'd left to go for an afternoon stroll, just to check things out," the admiral's son explained. "The scrolls were ashes in her fireplace, all right. A few scraps were left over, but I took care of those."

Xian and Ozai came to the same conclusion simultaneously, and three eyes were boring holes through Chan's head in an instant.

"You did what?" Ozai asked, his calm, cutting and measured tone more chilling to Xian than any screaming burst of rage. The unspoken accusation flew clear over Chan's head, and the admiral's son answered with his usual casualness.

"I burned up the scraps of the scrolls that'd stuck around," he said. "And I got rid off all the ashes in the fireplace, just to be sure," Chan added, a note of pride in his voice that made Xian groan audibly, covering what little was visible of his face in his free hand.

"So, what you're saying is that you left obvious evidence of your break-in, which is bound to raise all sorts of inconvenient questions," Ozai said icily, and Chan finally began to understand the possibility that he'd made a huge blunder. "Fortunately for you," the general continued without shifting his tone in the slightest, "Azula will come to me before anyone else, and I can misdirect her. But I will remind you, boy," Ozai finished, pointedly ignoring Chan's bristling at the patronizing term of address, "that if you jeopardize this effort of mine again, Admiral's brat or no, I'll see that your highest military rank for the next two years will be 'Private'."

Chan swallowed and nodded, finally chastened. Satisfied, the general turned to his other subordinate.

"I want you to keep an eye on Azula for me," Ozai told Xian, his voice losing its chill. "These next few days are going to be of utmost importance, and I need to make sure my daughter can be counted on. If her mother starts getting to her, Azula could very well be compromised."

Xian couldn't keep his eyebrow from arching at that, his eye equally skeptical.

"You don't trust her?" the librarian asked, and Ozai smirked. His response was left unspoken, but Xian understood it nonetheless. He nodded. "Very well, Sir," the librarian said gravely. "As you command."

"Good," the general said tersely, before turning back to Chan. "I want you to go see what Commander Zhao is up to," he ordered. "Consider this your chance to prove to me that you're more than an ignorant leech clinging to the edge of his father's robes like his life depended upon it."

Chan did a double take at how the meeting had played out, his eyes widening in surprise and indignation as he realized he'd wound up coming in second place to a hunchbacked cripple.

"Are you serious?" he blurted out, all sense of decorum forgotten as his temper spiked. "I get to be your little errand-boy, and the guy who can't even walk without a piece of wood holding him up gets to keep tabs on Azula? How does that make any sense?"

The fire in the hearth behind Ozai flared as the general's eyebrows furrowed at the blatant disrespect, and Xian's mouth curled into a vicious smirk as he waited for the reprimand to come.

"I give my soldiers the assignments they merit," the general answered, his voice a spike of ice. "Zhao doesn't see you as anything more than an ordinary sycophant, and certainly not as a potential threat. Compound that with the fact that my daughter would sooner string you up with your own entrails than talk to you, and you just might begin to understand why this makes sense.

"And if my eyes don't deceive me," Ozai finished, glancing over toward Xian and seeing the single seam in his walking stick that had been sanded down almost to nothing, "that cane is made of bamboo, and not wood. Deceptively polished, however; I'll give you that much."

The librarian nodded.

"Very few people have bothered to notice that," Xian said. "It's more pliable than wood, easier to care for, and bears about as much weight."

Ozai could see that the walking stick the librarian was leaning on wasn't bending in the slightest, but said no more about it.

"Very well; you two have your orders," he spoke up at last. "Fulfill them to my satisfaction, and I will see that you are duly rewarded for your efforts."

The pair nodded, one more respectfully than the other. Chan exited ahead of Xian, leaving his associate to close the door behind them once again. When the librarian turned back around, he found himself staring into a sizable orange flame burning uncomfortably close to his face. But Xian didn't flinch, and moved his eye upward slightly to stare Chan down.

"And?" he pressed levelly, his hand tightening into a fist around his walking stick. "Are you going to do something with that, or just waste my time?"

"You're not better than me," Chan hissed. "Let's get that straight right now. And as soon as General Asshole is on the throne and I get my military appointment, neither he nor me are going to have any reason to keep you alive."

Xian smiled.

"It is a good thing, then," he said calmly as Chan took a few steps back and began to turn away, "that Ozai isn't on the throne just yet. And by the way," the librarian added, his smile widening, "it's 'he nor I'."

Chan frowned like he'd just sucked on a slice of lemon, closing his fist to extinguish the flame that rested within it before turning back and striking out to punch Xian in the stomach. But the librarian was waiting for it this time, and shifted his walking stick up in plenty of time to block the hit. Chan's fist collided with the bamboo and stopped cold in an instant, before springing backwards as if the dried plant had stung it somehow.

"What the hell?" he snapped, too thrown off by the sudden pain in his fingers to bother attacking again. Frowning, Chan stormed off down the hall without another word. Xian watched him go in silence, his walking stick back on the ground and firmly in place. It had been a risk to take away the bamboo's support for even a moment, but it had been more than worth it just to see the look on Chan's face.

Giving a small sigh, the librarian turned and began to walk down toward the other end of the hallway back toward the library. Xian assumed Chan felt compelled to assert authority over him because he was one of the few people the admiral's son felt like he could push around with no personal risk whatsoever— but even if he never knew why for sure, Xian wouldn't mind.

When the day came, if Chan still really wanted to fight him, the librarian would be more than happy to send him to his grave. For now, he had far more important things to worry about.

The sudden feeling of sharp, cold steel being pressed up against his neck snapped Xian out of his thoughts, outward impassivity hiding his inward snarled curses. He'd let his guard down for just long enough, and now he was paying for it.

"Hello, Princess," he said evenly, not letting any of his frustration seep into his tone. "Fancy seeing you here." When the princess held her silence, Xian let another sigh escape his lips. "What do I have to say to get this knife off of my throat?"

"Start with everything my father told you," Azula answered, her cool whisper close enough to the librarian's ear to send a barely suppressed shiver darting up his spine.

"That won't give me a whole lot to finish with," Xian countered, before the cold-then-warm feeling of the steel nipping into his neck cut off the rest of his humor quite sharply. "Fine," he said flatly. "General Ozai wanted Chan to go spy on Commander Zhao, and he wanted me to keep my eye on you."

He could feel the implication of the words hit Azula like a slap across the face, but to the princess's credit her grip on the knife didn't slacken.

"You're lying," she hissed, and as her hand clenched reflexively Xian felt the cloth around his neck dampen with a few more drops of blood. He let a curt hiss of his own pass through grit teeth, and Azula corrected the pressure on the blade. Her captive would be no use to her mute or dead, after all.

"My father," the princess continued after a moment, "would never order someone to tail me. He—" she tried to finish, before the librarian cut her off.

"If you finish that sentence with 'trusts me'," Xian interjected, "I think I'll laugh so hard your knife will cut my throat open. So if that's what you were planning to say, let me go first."

Azula said nothing, but Xian could feel it as her free hand ignited a ball of blue flame and held it up next to the small of his back.

"Keep mouthing off like that," she said dangerously, "and I'll see to it that you never walk again."

Xian's snarkiness turned to pure spite as Azula touched a nerve, his good eye narrowing in anger at the threat.

"Your father doesn't trust anyone," he spat sharply. "Not me; not Chan; not his wife; not his children. What do you think makes you so special, Princess? Because you do what he orders you to do? That doesn't make you any different than me."

"You're wrong," the princess countered defiantly, but Xian could hear the uncertainty buried under her words. She was trying to convince herself of a truth that even she, deep down inside, didn't fully believe to be true.

If she wasn't holding a knife to his throat, the librarian thought he might actually sympathize with her. Maybe.

"He wants me at his right hand," Azula said at last, her voice back to its usual decisiveness. "He told me that himself. Once Zhao self-destructs, the two of us are going to rebuild the Fire Nation back to its former glory."

"Oh, are you, now?" Xian challenged, his temper cooling and his tone frosting over to match it. "That 'rebuilding' leads right through your cousin and your uncle, princess. If Ozai told you to kill one of them, would you do it?"

"Absolutely," Azula answered, with only the barest hitch in her voice. Xian might not have heard it if her mouth hadn't been so close to his ear; but it was, he did, and he wasted no time in counter-attacking.

"Of course you would," he said calmly. "But think about it this way: if your father ever had any reason to see you as an enemy, do you think he would care about kinship in the slightest? Do you think he would care about all of the empty promises he made just to keep you in line?"

Xian felt the tension in Azula's body snap before she made a sound. He struck out behind him with his elbow and jerked hard to the right as the princess's fist raced towards his back; the first strike knocked her off-balance and got the blade away from his throat just long enough for his second movement to happen, the sharp dodge being just enough to avoid the ball of blue flame that would have cracked his spine in half.

Azula was about to splinter the sanctimonious librarian's lower spine into a hundred little pieces when she felt most of the wind leave her lungs in a single violent expulsion. Her grip on Xian slackened in the wake of the surprisingly strong and unexpected attack, and it was all she could do to stay on her feet.

_Where had _that _come from?_

The princess looked over a heartbeat later and saw the librarian braced against the wall; recognizing her chance, she snapped a plume of blue flame into existence and ran the short distance towards him, bringing the fire whipping around—

And slamming into the wall, spraying chunks of masonry everywhere as the stone split before the concussive force of the flame. Xian was nowhere to be seen.

_What?_

Azula heard the movement to her left and threw herself backwards just seconds before Xian's fist lanced through where her head had been. The librarian's lunge forward had been fast enough to make the trail of his cloak snap behind him, and as the princess hit the ground and settled into a fighting stance, she saw something that made her eyes widen in a rare moment of open shock.

Xian was standing there on his own two feet, his back straight as a steel rod, holding his walking stick in one hand, reverse-gripped, like a blunt weapon.

"You…" Azula breathed out after a heartbeat's pause. "You're not a cripple."

The librarian smiled wide from behind his cloth wrappings, his eye gleaming with mirth and malice.

"Guess that cat's out of the bag, huh?" he said shortly, reaching over and gripping the end of his walking stick with his free hand before pulling on it. The top of the bamboo shaft detached from the rest, revealing itself to be the hilt of a blade that had been hidden inside the walking stick. "It's really a shame you forced my hand like this," Xian continued as he pulled the entirety of the sword free. "I don't like it when people dig up my secrets, Princess."

Azula understood that the balance of power had evened out quite unexpectedly, and suddenly regretted waiting until the two of them had been secluded from possible bystanders before she'd struck.

"Who are you?" she asked, trying to buy as much time to study her enemy as possible. The librarian smiled again, shifting the sword down into a ready position.

"I'm not going to tell you," Xian replied simply, his single eye still shining with perverse humor. "Not until you've earned the right to know, at least."

Azula understood that instinctively as a challenge, and took one breath to ready herself before lunging forward. The knife she was holding in one hand was thoroughly outclassed by Xian's longer sword, but the flame she was holding in the other helped to even things out considerably. The princess lashed out again and again like a belligerent snake, the steel of her knife and the eerie blue of her fire flashing far brighter than the fading dusk light of the setting sun.

Xian parried the knife with ease, but the tenacity of Azula's Firebending was slowly but surely forcing him to give ground. He'd made the mistake of assuming that the surprise of his full mobility along with his earlier psychological warfare would be enough to bowl her over completely, but Azula had recovered her footing with commendable grace and poise.

Grudgingly, he felt his respect for the princess rising.

Azula feinted a fire-thrust to the left, tricking Xian into dodging right into the blade of the knife. The cold steel raked against the bandaged side of his face, and he sprang back with a strangled hiss before it could do any serious damage. The slashed strips of cloth fell away in shredded tatters, revealing yet another unexpected surprise. Azula smiled, pleased that she'd torn down another section of the wall of secrecy Xian seemed to care so much about.

The second eye that the bandages had been covering wasn't rotted away after all, and neither was the rest of his face. A pair of dark green eyes stared her down now, smoldering with a level of intensity that they'd never had before.

"Oh?" Azula breathed, a taunting smirk twisting her lips. "This has to be the first time I've ever seen someone _fake_ having rotten flesh. Now I'm really interested."

"I'll give you points for persistence," Xian said as he unfastened his cloak and let it pool at his feet, "but I'm getting tired of playing this game, Princess."

"How unfortunate for you, then," Azula shot back, sheathing her knife and igniting a second flame in her now-empty hand. "I see my games through to the end."

She charged, pulling her arms across her body and sending out two crescents of blue flame. Xian jumped over them, and had to roll hard to the right as soon as he touched down to avoid a third blast of flame that had been sent racing towards him courtesy of the princess's left leg. Azula's assault was relentless, but her opponent appeared to have undergone something of a metamorphosis as well; Xian was moving faster than he had been before, and the few times he'd closed to within striking distance the speed of his sword had been downright intimidating.

Part of Xian really, really wanted to kill this girl.

She had systematically ripped away all but the most carefully-guarded of his secrets, and now she was pushing him to the absolute limits of his skills with a blade. Years of wearing the mask of a cripple had made him soft and complacent, and far less prepared for this kind of fight than his ego would have liked to think. Constant fear that someone might be spying on him practicing his _kata_ had forced him to leave his sword hidden— and as its blade had dulled, so had his instincts.

As he sprung to the side to dodge what felt like the twentieth blast of flame, his leg muscles screamed in protest. Xian knew he had to bring this to a close soon or risk losing outright, which was an outcome he simply couldn't allow; he had way too much to lose if Azula went blabbing to her father about what the crippled librarian really was. Years of careful planning would be undone in moments, and Xian would sooner die than let that happen.

Azula decided to neutralize the threat of her opponent's sword altogether and darted into close quarters, where the length and weight of the blade would be a distinct disadvantage. True to her expectations, it only took a short flurry of punches before Xian dropped the blade altogether. He countered her blow for blow, balancing defense to keep her flames at bay and offense to wear her down. It was more than the princess had been expecting at this point in the fight, and her anticipation of a sure victory was starting to ebb into concern that this contest might give her more than a few bruises before it ended.

Grudgingly, she felt her respect for the librarian rising.

The pair traded a few more punches before Xian's eyes suddenly widened in surprise and his whole body froze, giving Azula the window she needed to claim her victory. One swift, hard punch to his midsection later and the princess's opponent was on his knees, doubled over in defeat. Azula looked down at Xian with plain scorn, upset by his apparent quitting.

"What was _that_?" she asked, her tone mocking. "Did you see a ghost?"

"Not quite, no."

The answer came from behind her, causing Azula to spin around on her heels at once to face the newcomer. When she saw whom it was, the princess's amber eyes went wide with shock for the second time that evening.

"Mother?"

Ursa smiled, walking over towards her daughter with a solicitous look in her eyes.

"I'd heard you'd come back without Lu Ten," she said, glancing down at Azula's bandaged leg, "but I didn't know you'd gotten hurt that badly."

"It's nothing," the princess insisted, even as her leg began to throb with pain as the adrenaline of the fight left her blood.

Ursa's smile turned sad around the edges as she shifted her gaze to the young man hunched over on the ground.

"Are you all right, Hanzo?"

He coughed once and rose shakily to his feet, his green eyes burning with a mixture of frustration and shame.

"I'll live," he said shortly. "You shouldn't have surprised me like that, my Lady."

"It wasn't my intention, I assure you," Ursa said calmly. "Please, come and eat dinner with me; it's the least I can do."

"As you wish," Hanzo replied with a deferential nod.

The combined impact of learning that her mother somehow knew this strange person and that even his name of 'Xian' had been a lie was enough to knock Azula speechless, and it took her a few long moments to come back to herself again.

"Mother," she said, "would you be so kind as to tell me just what the _hell_ is going on here?"

Ursa smiled at the question, and this time the expression was so full of unexpected mischief that Azula thought for a moment she was looking into a mirror.

"Of course," her mother said, and the next instant her smile had vanished. "Join us for dinner, and I'll answer all of your questions."

With that, Ursa turned and began to walk away. Hanzo followed silently in her wake like a shadow; somewhere along the line he'd picked his sword back up, and was now wearing it in his sash like a typical sheathed blade.

Seeing no other way to get the explanation she desired, Azula fell into step behind them.

* * *

**…**

**…**

**A/N:** Okay, I have some explaining to do. For the first time so far in this story, the teaser at the end of last chapter was incorrect. But there's a reason for that! Originally, there was going to be a third scene in this chapter, featuring Lu Ten, June, and Toph. But the second scene (which wasn't in the original draft of this chapter at all) ran away from me. Really far. In fact, one of the reveals that happens in this chapter wasn't originally supposed to happen until about ten chapters from now. But the characters wouldn't have it, so this second scene happened instead, reveal and all. And as a result, there was no room for the third scene. So it'll be the first scene next chapter.

For those of you who're interested in the "Behind-the-Scenes" angle of how this story is getting put together, PM me and I can tell you, Director's Cut-style, about what was going to happen before Azula and Hanzo/Xian hijacked the entire back half of the chapter. That's also why this chapter turned out so much longer than normal; I had to ride the wave out until it finished. It was pretty nuts on my end to experience, and I hope it was fun to read. I think this'll be the last time something like that happens, though.

But hey, I also put in some Zutara goodness for you all, so I guess that evens things out?

Anyhow, enough of my blabbering; it's time to thank the new reviewers from last chapter! **IceFire Dragon Alchemist73 **and **Jane Keybored**, you two rock.

Also, a big 'Thank-You' goes out to the regular reviewing cohort! It's thanks to you guys and gals that this story cracked the 100-review barrier last chapter, which is at _least_ seven different kinds of fantastic. It's your continued and encouraging feedback that keeps me writing, and spurs me on to revise these chapters until they're as good as I can make them... even if that means staying up until the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning. All of you flat-out rule.

Time for next week's teaser... which will be accurate this time, I promise! Lu Ten and June pay Toph their promised night-time visit, but Senyaka has one last thing to leave the Crown Prince with before they depart. Chan drops in on Zhao, leading to an unexpected mission for the admiral's son. Meanwhile, Azula gets answers from her mother about the identity of the young man she calls 'Hanzo', forcing the princess to re-evaluate her family loyalties. The next morning, Zuko and Katara practice both Waterbending and Firebending, and learn more about each other as a result.

Whew. That should be fun. See you then, and thanks a million for reading this far!

**-Jazz**

_p.s.- _To all my fellow members of the Tribe, L'Shanah Tovah and hopes for an easy fast today!


	11. Loyalties

**Twist of Fate  
**

**Chapter 11: **Loyalties**  
**

* * *

Commander Zhao sat as his desk in his modest chambers in the Fire Nation royal palace, putting the finishing touches on a very important document, when an unexpected knock came on his door. He was irritated at the interruption, but his curiosity outweighed his anger: anyone he was used to seeing wouldn't have bothered knocking, which begged the question as to who had the temerity to just drop in on him unannounced. Quickly drying the ink on the page and hiding the document in a desk-drawer, Zhao straightened himself up and spoke.

"Who is it?"

The visitor didn't answer at once, instead choosing to open the door and walk in first. The commander felt his temper spike as soon as he recognized the arrogant face of Admiral Chan's brat, but he kept his expression calm.

"The young Chan," Zhao said evenly. "What do you want?"

If Chan was annoyed by the question's clipped tone, he hid it completely. Helping himself to the seat across the desk from the commander, the admiral's son fixed Zhao with a level stare.

"Whatever it is you're planning," Chan said without preamble, "I want in."

Zhao was taken aback by the frankness of the statement, and it took him a moment to recover.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Chan smiled.

"Come on, Commander," he countered. "I heard about how Azula humiliated you in that council meeting a few days back. And I know General Ozai thinks you're worth less than the dirt under his boots."

"Does this have a point," Zhao cut in acidly, "or are you just trying to ruin your military career before it starts?"

"My point is," Chan replied with an almost insufferable amount of smugness, "that you're not the only one around here who hates that egotistical bastard. It looks to me like we both want to get one over on Ozai, so I don't see why we can't work together."

Zhao let the words sink in as he looked Chan over, trying to get a sense of how serious the kid was. He certainly seemed eager, and it would be nice to have a stooge around to dump all the blame on in case the plot he was hatching went wrong or got sniffed out… but there was one thing that didn't quite make sense.

"Why would you back me against the General?" the commander pressed. "That's political suicide."

"If you screw this up, sure," Chan replied blithely, leaning back in his chair. "But not if we pull it off."

Zhao let himself smile, contented that this boy really was foolish enough to stick his own neck out in order to spite Ozai.

"I suppose so," he said at last. "Very well; you're right. I have something in mind that would turn a number of unfavorable eyes in the General's direction. Something that could use a second pair of sure hands."

"I thought so," Chan replied, making no effort to hide his satisfaction. "What do you need me to do?"

Zhao opened the drawer of his desk where he'd stashed the document earlier, taking it out and passing it over to Chan. It hadn't been sealed yet, so the admiral's son unrolled it without hesitation and began to read it. As he did so, Chan's eyes got wider and wider until he'd finished reading all of it, at which point he put it down on the desk and stared mutely at the commander across from him.

"That…" Chan swallowed once, recomposing himself and trying again. "That's more than just getting back at Ozai. That's treason. The worst kind of treason. If you were caught—"

"If _we_ were caught, you mean," Zhao broke in, correcting him with menace in his voice. "But that won't be a problem. Like you said yourself, we won't 'screw it up'."

"But even if this did work," Chan insisted, "how could you blame it on the General?"

"Easily," Zhao answered smoothly. "Ozai's made no secret of his distaste for our alliance with the Southern Water Tribe, and it wouldn't take more than a few suggestive remarks to turn the Crown Prince against his uncle. There's bad blood between them, and if Lu Ten returns from his mission in the Earth Kingdom alive—as I believe he will—things will be at a fever pitch."

Chan felt the majority of his misgivings vanishing as he heard Zhao's convincing explanation, but something about this still made him feel rotten.

"The Fire Lord won't be too happy to know someone tried to overturn an official order of banishment behind his back," he said, pointing down at the document that lay between them, "and this pardon has your signature on it."

Zhao forced down a frown at Chan's short-sightedness; if all of this double-dealing wound up getting the brat killed, it would be a blessing for the future of the Fire Nation military.

"The signature won't matter if I can frame Ozai as the one pulling my strings," Zhao said pointedly. "And once he falls from grace and I've persuaded Iroh that his brother was forcing me to do his dirty work for him, I'm sure I'll get a promotion out of it. When that happens…" the commander let the rest of the thought hang, and Chan soon smiled as he finished it for himself.

"I get it," he said with conviction, before rising to his feet, rolling the parchment scroll up and passing it back to Zhao for a moment to seal it officially. That done, Chan tucked it safely into the folds of his clothing. "I assume you want me to deliver this down to the southern islands, then?"

"Of course," Zhao answered. "He'll be waiting for you there."

Chan said no more, nodding once and leaving the room. He took the long route back towards Ozai's personal quarters, making sure no one was following him as he went. When he finally reached the door, Chan opened it after a perfunctory knock and walked right in, not even waiting for permission from the general. A ripple of irritation passed through Ozai, but he waited until the door was shut again to speak.

"What did you find out?"

"This," Chan said simply, drawing the pardon out into the torch-light and passing it to the general. Ozai broke the seal carefully, making sure the wax stayed intact. He read over the document once, then again, his expression shifting from incredulous to delighted.

"I knew the man was a fool," Ozai said after a few moments of silence, "but this is something else entirely. What angle could he possibly be working with this?"

"It sounded like he was going to try and flip the blame back onto you," Chan answered easily, helping himself to one of the chairs in the room and dragging it over until it was opposite from the general before sitting down with a sigh. "Actually thought he might get a promotion out of it, once the hammer fell on you."

Ozai laughed out loud at that, wondering at his good fortune. With Zhao so eager to self-destruct, the path to the throne had been made that much smoother.

"If he thinks my brother will ever let him go unpunished for digging up Yon Rha and using him as a weapon against the South," the general said with vicious humor in his voice, "The man doesn't have two shreds of intelligence to rub together. This is going to bury him completely."

Chan was silent at that, blinking in surprise. He'd expected a totally different answer from the general, and it took him a few heartbeats to get his thoughts unstuck from the back of his throat.

"You're not stopping this?"

"Of course not," Ozai shot back at once. "Why would I? Snapping off my brother's ties with the Southern Water Tribe is exactly what needs to happen. Drawing them into war and crushing them will give the Northern Tribe pause when they next think about provoking us.

"Not to mention that the death of the Avatar would get that problem off of our hands for at least another decade and a half—more than long enough to bring the rest of the Four Nations to heel completely."

"But… what about Zuko?"

"What about him?" the general replied, arching an eyebrow. Chan blinked again.

"What if he gets caught up in the attack on the South?"

"Then the Prince will have a choice to make," Ozai replied coldly, not even twitching at the implication that his own son might very wind up a casualty of Zhao's scheme. "Whether he wants to side with his country, or be a traitor and take up arms against it. And if he really is foolish enough to side with the Water Tribe peasants, then he deserves to share their fates."

Chan could only summon up enough poise to nod dumbly.

"Deliver the pardon to Yon Rha first thing tomorrow morning," Ozai continued. "If he requests your help in rounding up the old Southern Raiders, oblige him. I want you at his heels from the time you give him that scroll to the moment the Sea Raven claws at the Southern shores. Make absolutely sure Yon Rha doesn't waver—and see to it that no one else finds out about this mission."

"Of course, Sir."

Chan rose and left the room, beginning to wonder if he hadn't made a terrible mistake trying to curry general Ozai's favor. Working for one of the most powerful men in the Fire Nation—and one who would probably become Fire Lord himself in time— had its benefits. But the more he got to know Ozai, the more Chan realized that the general was even more ruthless than most of the rumors had painted him to be.

The admiral's son just hoped that being a cutthroat didn't stop the man from keeping his promises.

* * *

"I don't like this."

"Stop fretting, Lu Ten. You sound like an old woman."

"Seeing as how I've known many old women to be wise, thoughtful people gifted with an uncommon amount of foresight," the crown prince replied tersely, "I'll take that as a compliment. Something feels off, June; are you honestly telling me you can't sense it too?"

The bounty hunter would have been lying if she'd said no, but she wasn't about to cede the argument, either.

"Even if something is up, we have Nyla watching our backs," June answered at last, splitting the difference.

"As far as his tongue can reach, at least," Lu Ten said gloomily, drawing an exasperated sigh from his partner.

"Look," she said, "if you're not going to lighten up, at least focus. We're here." She gave a sharp whistle behind her, the signal for the Shirshu to fall back and wait for another call.

The walls of the Bei Fong estate were somehow even more imposing at night than they were in the daytime, the torches that sat at regular points along their roofs casting long, oppressive shadows down onto the ground below.

Senyaka was waiting by one of the alcoves in the left hand side main wall, his entire massive form covered in shadow except for the part illuminated by a small torch he carried in his hand. Toph was standing nearby, carrying no light of her own and clad in a simple hooded cloak. And yet, somehow, she managed to turn and face the pair dead-on as they approached, smiling widely.

Lu Ten reminded himself to ask the young Earthbender about how she did that later, as Toph called out in a hushed greeting.

"There you are," she said, clearly relieved. "I thought that you'd bailed for a bit there."

"Not a chance," June answered with a smile of her own, before turning to face her old mentor. "So, this is it, then?"

Senyaka gave a ponderous nod.

"See to it that she's kept safe," he insisted. "The Avatar must have a teacher, and Toph must have her freedom."

"Both will happen, I promise."

The captain of the guard nodded again, before a light came into his eyes and he spoke again.

"There is one more thing," he added quickly, his voice urgent. "Something I didn't want to tell you until I was absolutely sure the Crown Prince could be trusted to remain true to his word."

"What is it?" June asked, her curiosity piqued as her gray eyes narrowed. "Am I about to really regret trusting you, old man?"

Senyaka gave a bittersweet smile at the question.

"No, child," he said. "This is a secret; the one King Zhou held closest to his heart and only let two people in the whole Earth Kingdom know about. The king's last sword, for striking off Long Feng's head even if something should happen to him."

June's curiosity swiftly shifted into confusion, and from there it was only a short path to annoyance.

"'Last sword'?" she repeated, mildly baffled. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"The name of a weapon," Senyaka clarified. "One that, in the right hands, could completely topple Long Feng from his perch."

"Oh, really?" the bounty hunter said, smiling again. "Now I'm definitely interested. What's this weapon of yours called, and where is it?"

The captain of the guard opened his mouth to reply, and several things happened at once.

"We're being ambushed!" Toph shouted out loud, no longer concerned about stealth or discretion. Lu Ten reacted as soon as he heard the words, reaching up and extinguishing the nearest torches with a gesture in the same moment that he quenched Senyaka's flame, letting the darkness hide them from the ambushers.

But the crown prince hadn't acted quite fast enough; the last thing June saw before the torch in front of her went out was an arrow lodged in Senyaka's head. It had pierced both of his temples, killing him instantly. She dropped to the ground immediately, just in time to hear another arrow slam into the stone wall she'd been standing in front of just a heartbeat earlier.

June was on the move at once, fulfilling her old mentor's last request and making sure Toph was unhurt. She was worried for no reason, as it turned out: the Earthbender had erected wedge of earth around herself large and thick enough to be arrow-proof, and a few of the projectiles that had been loosed toward Toph's last visible location bounced harmlessly off of the barrier.

June felt Lu Ten next to her a few tense moments later, and could barely make out his face in the darkness. He was holding one finger up to his lips in the universal gesture for silence, and as soon as he knew that his partner understood him, he moved his finger away from his lips and mouthed two words that sent a sharp chill lancing up June's spine.

_Yu Yan._

It was the only logical explanation for the speed, precision and coordination of the attack; if Toph hadn't said something, they would all be dead right now. The Yu Yan archers were downright legendary in their ally's ranks—and in their enemy's—for their accuracy and cold ruthlessness.

And only a few people in the entire Fire Nation military could command the elite archers to run a mission for them. It didn't take June very long to guess who had tasked them with this particular bit of assassination.

Lu Ten felt his heart beating faster than it had in a long time, his mind racing to try and come up with some kind of way out. As long as the Yu Yan couldn't see them, they were safe… but that meant he couldn't Firebend, or he'd be dooming himself, June and Toph to early graves. So what could he do?

The Yu Yan answered that question for him a moment later, when a lobbed object arced through the air towards the trio. The crown prince barely had time to recognize it as a bottle of cheap rice wine with a flaming piece of cloth stuck in its opening before it hit the ground and shattered. The fire spread greedily to the spilled alcohol, casting a warm, lethal glow over June and Lu Ten. The only thing the crown prince could think to do was get in front of the bounty hunter, shielding her from the arrows that were about to rain down and at least giving her a chance to escape alive.

June heard the _twang_ of bowstrings in the distance and braced herself for the end… but right before the arrows would have struck, a wall of dirt rose up from the ground and deflected them harmlessly. Lu Ten seized the opening and poked his head out around the edge of the barrier Toph had made to protect them, just long enough to see where the fire was. He snuffed it out just in time to move back behind the wall as another four arrows whizzed through the now-empty space where his head had been, and darkness reigned once again.

A pained grunt broke the silence, and the crown prince belatedly realized that Toph had lowered her own protective wedge in order to raise up the second barrier in the right place at the right time.

"Shoulder," the Earthbender said curtly, before moving quickly to the left to dodge the arrows that had been drawn to the sound of her voice. The only thing June and Lu Ten heard after that was the quickly-receding, focused _pat-pat-pat_ of Toph's feet as she ran towards the archers, after making sure the barrier protecting the pair was still holding strong. June sprang to her feet and whistled sharply.

Toph knew that whoever these punks were, no matter how good they were at archery, they couldn't hit a target they couldn't see. But being in the dark wasn't a problem for the Earthbender at all; it was where she'd been her whole life. Keeping her senses sharp and ignoring the throbbing pain in her shoulder that spiked with every stride she took, Toph quickly located the attackers from the vibrations their movements made in the ground. There were only four of them, from the feel of things—the small number struck the Earthbender as odd, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse-ostrich in the mouth.

Determined to make the fight as quick as possible, Toph stood stock-still, concentrated and fixed the four separate positions of the archers clearly in her mind; this done, she flexed her wrists and sent small, sharp spikes of earth jutting up out of the ground to pierce through their feet. The attack had the result Toph had been hoping for: completely surprised by the sudden stabbing pain, the Yu Yan crumpled to their knees. As the arrow still fixed in her shoulder caused another burst of pain to burn all the way down along her arm, Toph remembered feeling old man Senyaka's body slump lifeless to the ground. The one man in that whole household who had gone out of his way to be kind to her, and to treat her like an actual person. The one who had given her a chance to be free.

Snarling in pain and anger, Toph brought up large spikes aligned with each archer's ribcage.

When each of their bodies had fallen limp beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Earthbender finally let herself relax. She reached up to pull the arrow out of her shoulder, but found herself stopped unexpectedly by a hand that closed gently but firmly over her own.

"Not yet," June said softly as she took Toph's hand and moved it away from the arrow. "We need to be able to clean the wound as soon as the arrow gets taken out; otherwise it'll get infected. You don't want to lose the whole arm, do you?"

"No," the Earthbender agreed, her perception feeling fuzzy around the edges as the adrenaline of the fight finally began to seep away. "Where's Lu Ten?"

"He's fine," June assured Toph as they began to walk away from the nearby corpses that had started to stink. "Another group of Yu Yan tried to flank us, and his royal highness was having none of it. I haven't seen him that angry in a long time, I'll say that much."

"Yu Yan?" Toph asked, confused. "Who the heck are they supposed to be?"

"An elite archery corps of the Fire Nation military," June explained while they finally reached the clearing where Lu Ten was waiting for them, surrounded by charred, unrecognizable forms scattered on the ground. A bloodied arrow lay on the ground next to him, but the wound it had made in his side wasn't life-threatening; strips of burgundy cloth from the archers' uniforms had been tied around it to cut off any further bleeding.

"But… why would the Fire Nation military go after its own Crown Prince?" the Earthbender said after a few moments of confusion, and Lu Ten stepped in to answer while June held another long, ragged piece of cloth burgundy under the water of a nearby brook.

"Because my uncle ordered them to," he said bitterly. "Did you leave any of them alive?"

Toph shook her head, a gesture that was sharply interrupted by a groan of pain as June pulled the arrow out of her shoulder and immediately pressed the wet cloth against the wound. Lu Ten sighed.

"Shame," he said lowly. "I was hoping one of them could testify to my father."

"Well," June spoke up as she finished tying the cloth around Toph's wound and cinching it tight to stop the bleeding, "at least one of them still might be able to talk." She pointed off over Toph's shoulder, and Lu Ten turned to see something that made him smile for the first time since that morning.

Nyla was trotting towards them with a thoroughly paralyzed Yu Yan archer in his mouth, the Shirshu looking none the worse for wear.

"I take back every single bad thing I ever said about that guy," the crown prince said. "He's awesome."

"Yep," the bounty hunter agreed with a proud smile as she reached over to pet her Shirshu on the muzzle. "He's getting at least five steaks when we get back to the Fire Nation, yes he is. Speaking of," June continued looking back over her shoulder, "how'd you get here?"

"Eel hound. It's resting not too far from here; only a few minutes' ride on Nyla back through Gaoling."

"Let's get going, then," June said insistently. "The less time we spend hanging around a scene as ugly as this, the better. The Yu Yan probably took out the rest of the perimeter guards before they attacked us, but the guards inside the compound would have to be deaf for all of that to not wake up at least one of them."

"True," Lu Ten agreed, before turning to face the young Earthbender questioningly. "Are you sure you still want to come with us, Toph?"

Toph nodded.

"Senyaka died because he was trying to give me a chance to get out of here," she said seriously. "I'm not going to ignore that. I can't."

Lu Ten smiled again, this time smaller and more bittersweetly.

"I wouldn't have expected you to," the crown prince answered, motioning with his head towards the now-anxious Shirshu. "Come on," he continued encouragingly, "let's go."

* * *

Fire Lord Azulon had gone out of his way to have a small, private dining room built in the section of the palace that housed the royal family, for those moments when all the man wanted was to be alone with his thoughts and plans for conquest.

Which, admittedly, had been the majority of his time.

It was in this dining room that Ursa, Azula and Hanzo now sat, with the librarian and the princess pointedly avoiding each other's eyes and picking at their food while Ursa ate her dinner and waited, a thoroughly amused smile on her face. The silence only lasted for a few more moments before Azula had had enough, and she glared over at her mother with suspicion in her amber eyes.

"You're enjoying this immensely, aren't you?"

Ursa's smile vanished, but the humor remained in her eyes all the same.

"I don't know what you mean," she said calmly, drawing a frustrated frown from her daughter. A heartbeat later one of the princess's chopsticks snapped beneath the force of her grip, and the sound of it seemed to push the young man across from her out of his contemplation.

"Temper, temper," Hanzo said with a smirk, prompting Azula to stab her last good chopstick threateningly over in his general direction.

"Say that again, and this is going through one of your eyes."

The smirk widened.

"Then it's a good thing I have two, isn't it?"

"Don't antagonize her, Hanzo," Ursa cut in maternally before the two of them could continue, and the young man quieted down. Azula's mood swung from annoyed back to curious, and the pointing of her chopstick became substantially less aggressive.

"Mother," she said calmly, "just who is he?"

Ursa seemed more concerned with enjoying her current mouthful of food than answering her question, so Azula took the time to try and gauge what kind of person this fake librarian was.

He looked to be the same age as her; the subtle-but-prominent muscular definition in his body told stories of rigorous training that had only slipped over the past few years, since he'd come here from Ba Sing Se. His dark green eyes had a lean and hungry look to them that spoke of someone who'd fought tooth-and-nail to get to where he was, and wouldn't hesitate to keep fighting for the rest of his life if it was necessary. Azula realized that Hanzo was evaluating her in turn while she tried to glean information from his outward appearance, but the princess didn't care. The biggest question that still hovered over her was what her mother had seen in him; Azula still didn't have the faintest idea.

"I suppose," Ursa said calmly after she'd finished dabbing politely at her mouth with a napkin, "the simplest way to put it would be that he's…" she trailed off, the worried look in her eyes telling the princess that she was struggling over how to say something that was quite indelicate.

"A means to an end," Hanzo cut back in, black humor in his voice that glowed with equal presence in his eyes. "The last weapon in King Zhou's arsenal."

Azula frowned.

"I'm in no mood for riddles," she said sharply. "Give me a useful answer, or I'm leaving."

"Fine," he countered a heartbeat later, frowning slightly. "Would you believe me," Hanzo said without a trace of humor in his voice, "if I told you that King Zhou was my father?"

Azula let the question sit for all of three seconds before she replied.

"Of course not."

"Why?"

"Because no Prince would turn tail and run when their own kingdom was being besieged."

Hanzo gave a bitter smile.

"I never said I was a Prince."

Azula was quiet at the enigmatic reply, until she put the pieces together and her eyes widened slightly in comprehension.

"You're a bastard."

He nodded. The princess leaned back slightly, letting her eyes close in thought. She had all the pieces she needed now; she just had to put them together. While it was surprising to hear that someone of Zhou's bloodline—legitimate or otherwise—had survived the fall of Ba Sing Se, it made sense that they would have gone to ground and stayed there in order to keep their heads on their shoulders. Putting a bastard on the throne would be difficult, and even moreso now with Zhou dead and Kuei in his place… but still not impossible, if the right steps were taken.

Only one thing didn't seem to fit.

"What's your stake," she asked as her eyes moved over to coolly regard her mother, "in overthrowing the Earth King? Why bother smuggling an illegitimate heir out of Ba Sing Se during the middle of a war?"

Ursa didn't flinch, holding her daughter's gaze with an ease that surprised Azula.

"Because the Earth King isn't the one who holds the power in Ba Sing Se," she explained. "It's his Grand Secretariat, Long Feng. And that man wouldn't hesitate to start a second war between our nations if he thought it would benefit him."

The princess arched a graceful eyebrow.

"Are you afraid we'd lose?" she asked provocatively, and Azula wasn't disappointed with her mother's response. Ursa's eyes hardened more than her daughter had thought was possible, her mouth set in a firm line.

"Winning or losing doesn't matter," she said flatly. "War isn't a game, Azula."

The princess sneered.

"It would seem our opinions differ there, mother," she said curtly, pushing her chair away from the table and rising to her feet. "I've heard enough of this; good night."

Azula walked out of the room, keeping her limp to an almost imperceptible hitch in her step as she did so. Hanzo stared daggers over at Ursa, his expression a seething combination of disbelief and anger.

"That's it?" he snapped. "You're going to let her go crawling back Ozai, knowing what she knows now? Are you serious?"

Ursa sighed, finally letting some fatigue and weariness creep into her expression.

"Yes," she answered. "This is a choice she has to make for herself, and she doesn't know anything that could truly endanger us."

"She knows what I am," Hanzo shot back, rising to his feet. "That's enough to endanger me."

"You've been hiding who you are your entire life," Ursa countered as the bastard prince walked to the door. "Do you think Azula's fanciful accusation will seem believable to someone who only sees you as a crippled body with one working, very observant eye?"

Hanzo pushed the door open and paused.

"It's your husband we're talking about, remember?" he said lowly. "I'm not taking any risks with him."

The bastard prince stepped back out into the hallway and saw Azula's retreating form moving slowly into the distance. Her limp was much more pronounced now; their fight had put more strain on the injured limb than Hanzo had realized or Azula had cared to admit.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The princess stopped at the sound of the voice, turning around and meeting the bastard prince's hard glare with a mocking smile.

"What do you think? Going back to my room to sleep."

"Don't screw with me."

"Don't worry; I'm not nearly that easy."

Hanzo's hard glare turned into a hard smirk, but his eyes were still dark with anger.

"Cute," he said. "Are you really going to run back to your father and tell him what you just heard?"

Azula's smile widened.

"But of course."

The bastard prince bared his teeth, resisting the sudden urge to scream in the face of the princess's blind stubbornness.

"Did nothing I told you earlier get through your skull?" he asked her scornfully instead, the fresh, long red cut on the right side of his face twitching. "Your father would cut your throat in an instant if he thought it would benefit him more than keeping you alive."

"You seemed to miss the part where I called you a liar," Azula countered, the humor frozen out of her voice in a snap. "What possible reason could you give me to believe a single word of anything you say about my father?"

Hanzo went stone silent. When he spoke a few heartbeats later, his voice was plain and completely serious.

"What about proof?"

The princess hesitated at that, sensing a trap.

"What?"

"Proof," the bastard prince repeated, his eyes guileless. "When I meet with Ozai tomorrow, I'll make sure it's somewhere just public enough to allow for eavesdropping."

Azula saw her chance to twist the situation around in her favor, and didn't miss a beat.

"And when you're wrong?" she pressed. "What then?"

Hanzo shrugged.

"Do whatever you want," he said offhandedly. "I don't care what happens to you, as long as it doesn't affect me." He turned around and began to walk down the hall, back towards the dining room, before the princess could reply. Azula watched him leave, quiet hate smoldering in her amber eyes.

After tomorrow's eavesdropping, no matter what her father told Hanzo, she was going to kill the bastard prince. He was too unpredictable to be left alive, even if he had been professing indifference just now.

Because eventually, one way or another, Azula knew what happened among her family would force Hanzo to take a side. And once that happened, she had no doubt that he would try to take her life.

Which was a risk that the princess had absolutely no desire to take, and especially without anything to gain from it.

* * *

Katara was in the middle of eating a modest breakfast when she heard someone walk into the main room. Looking up, the Waterbender saw Zuko making himself a plate of food, clad in the dark blue and white-fur-lined clothing of a Water Tribesman.

"Morning," she said shortly, before finishing a cup of water as the prince sat down across from her. "How'd you sleep?"

Zuko shrugged.

"Fine," he answered simply, cutting a piece of seal off of the leftover steak from the previous night and chewing on it with gusto.

"Glad to hear it," Katara said evenly. "Eat up; it's gonna be a busy day."

"You sure you're up for it?" Zuko asked, concern plain in his voice. Katara smiled.

"I'm fine, honestly," she assured him. "I've been through worse than a little over-exertion. But thank you for asking, all the same."

Zuko smiled as he took another bite of food, grateful for his new clothes as a gust of wind blew into the dwelling. He felt little more than a small shiver beneath the multiple layers, and wondered why it had taken him so long to make the switch.

"Those look good on you," Katara spoke into his thoughts, smiling in kind. "Give it a few more weeks down here, and you might not even want to go back home."

Zuko chuckled, shaking his head at the idea.

"I'm pretty sure your father would row me back on a boat himself if I told him I wanted to stay down here," he said. "I might be on your mother's good side, but not his."

"Bah," the Waterbender exhaled dismissively, spearing another piece of seal steak on her fork. "Don't be silly; if my dad really didn't like you, you'd know by now. Relax, your highness."

"Easy for you to say," Zuko replied ruefully, taking a drink of water. "If my father does anything to attack the Southern Water Tribe while I'm down here—"

"Then we'll blame it on him," Katara cut him off firmly, "and not on you. You're not your father, Zuko."

"How can you be so forgiving, after what Yon Rha did to your tribe?"

"Why do you keep carrying around guilt for things that aren't your own fault?" Katara countered sharply, undaunted. "All I've heard you talk about is how you're not as good at Firebending as your sister or your cousin, or about how your father looks down on you. Stop letting everyone else control your life, Zuko."

The prince finished eating a bite of seal, chewing on it harder than he needed to before swallowing it with an audible _gulp_. He closed his eyes and let out a controlled breath, and Katara could tell that Zuko was forcing himself to remain calm. When he opened his amber eyes again, though, a tired smile crept thinly across his face.

"Since when did you turn into my therapist?" he asked wryly, and the Waterbender laughed.

"The Avatar is the whole world's therapist," she answered with a smirk. "What kind of keeper-of-balance would I be if I couldn't even make time for you?"

Zuko's smile turned warm and genuine at that.

"Fair point," he conceded, before turning his attention back to finishing his breakfast. When they'd both finished, the pair rose in unison and headed out the door. The sun was halfway to its zenith, the warm light causing the ice and snow to glint and glitter like so many gleaming gemstones. The prince found himself struck once more with the natural beauty of this place, and he was certainly beginning to understand why his uncle had spent time studying Waterbending down here.

"Okay," Katara said at last, moving to the center of a clearing, "this should do fine."

Zuko moved to stand across from her, noting the relaxed posture that the Waterbender had slipped into and trying his best to emulate it. The prince felt awkward almost instantly; his muscles tensed on their own, following instincts that had been drilled into them by years of constant Firebending practice. Katara noticed Zuko's fidgeting and shook her head.

"Just ease into it," she said. "Waterbending is all about reacting; anticipating like that will tire you out."

Zuko sighed, mumbling something gruffly that Katara couldn't quite make out. Ignoring it, she focused and liquefied a layer of the ice resting near her. Shifting it towards her, she let the water float suspended in the air, rocking gently back and forth as the water's push and pull guided her.

"The key to Waterbending is following the flow of the energy in the water," Katara said calmly as she began to move the water around her in a slow circle. "Letting it pass around you— guiding it instead of forcing it, like Firebending does."

She let the water drop around her with a splash, re-freezing it with a flex of her hands. Slipping back into a basic stance, Katara faced Zuko and waited.

"Firebend at me," she said after a few moments, and the prince raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"What?"

"Firebend at me," the Waterbender repeated, no misgivings in her voice at all. "I want to show you something."

Zuko hesitated for a few moments, before relenting and launching a burst of fire towards Katara. She reacted a heartbeat before it made contact, catching the flame with one hand and passing it over to her other hand, expanding it into a shield of fire in the process. Another beat later she collapsed the shield back into a ball of fire and launched it back to Zuko, who snuffed the flame out with a sharp, precise jab.

"Waterbending forms combine attacking and defending into the same motions," Katara said. "It might not be as directly powerful as Firebending, but I don't see why the principle can't be universal."

The prince was quiet at that, until something Katara had mentioned earlier roused his interest.

"Wait a second," he spoke up. "What you said before, about guiding the energy of the water—do you think the same thing could be done with lightning?"

"Lightning?" the Waterbender echoed, confused. "What does lightning have to do with anything?"

"A few Firebenders can use their _chi_ to create lightning," Zuko explained. "But only a very small number of them, all from the royal bloodline. My father, my sister, my uncle and my cousin are the only people alive in the entire Fire Nation who can do it. And according to records, four people in the span of two generations is an incredibly high number."

"So…" Katara said slowly, knowing she was treading onto sensitive ground and not wanting to anger Zuko, "you're the only person in your family who can't do it?"

The prince cringed at that, hoping that she would have picked up on why he'd rushed past that part. So much for luck being on his side lately.

"Yeah," he answered heavily, "I'm the only one. Lu Ten told me that I just needed to 'find total peace of mind,' like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. And I guess Azula can do it because she doesn't feel any emotion at all. That must be why it's called the 'Cold-blooded fire'."

"Well," Katara said after a moment, her voice halting as she grasped for a silver lining, "your uncle doesn't sound like he's emotionless at all. Did he ever tell you how he managed to create lightning?"

Zuko nodded, thinking back to the time several years ago when he'd asked the Fire Lord about the mysterious technique.

"He told me that the energy that flows all around us is negative as well as positive—_yin _and _yang_. The separation of those energies, and their recombination, are the steps to creating lightning. But he never said more than that… I think he wanted to make sure I didn't go trying it on my own."

"But you did anyway, right?" Katara pressed with a knowing smile, and Zuko fought back a rising blush.

"It blew up in my face," he said with embarrassment, weakly returning the Waterbender's smile. "Three times, actually, before my mother found me laying sprawled out on my back. She said I was twitching so badly, she thought I'd been bitten by a two-headed rat-viper."

Katara barely suppressed a laugh at that image, but she could tell from the look on Zuko's face that it hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Sorry," she apologized. "It's just that I had something like that happen to me once, too."

"Really?" the prince said, his shame replaced by curiosity in a flash. "What was it?"

"A few years ago," Katara began almost distantly, "I was studying Waterbending under Lyra's father. He refused to show me how to freeze water, keeping me on the normal exercises and stances. So I decided to go off and try on my own."

"Let me guess," Zuko broke in with a smile, "you froze yourself in place."

Katara nodded, flashing a sheepish smile as she did so. "I was stuck there for what felt like hours, screaming myself hoarse until Sokka finally found me and broke me out. He never told anyone what happened, but I'm pretty sure my mom put two and two together when she saw my blue feet. It took me a week of healing treatments to get them back to normal, and I'm pretty sure I'll never live that one down."

Zuko laughed, glad to know that he wasn't the only one with some embarrassing childhood memories.

"Come on," the prince said with a shake of his head, "let's go spar. I think you're ready for some basic Firebending forms."

Katara followed him as he headed out towards the outskirts of the village, smiling to herself as she remembered the last time they'd gone this far afield to train. She glanced sidelong at Zuko's face, trying to see if any traces of the vulnerability she'd seen on his sleeping face that night were there when he was awake.

"Is something wrong?" the prince asked concernedly, noticing her steady gaze. Katara shook her head.

"No," she answered, keeping the disappointment out of her voice. The Waterbender had hoped that Zuko trusted her enough by now to let his guard down around her, but apparently it was still too soon for that. Unless…?

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," the prince said easily, turning to face her more fully as they walked. "What is it?"

"Before you came here," Katara asked slowly, choosing her words carefully, "before we got matched up… did you have anyone back home, in the Fire Nation?"

She could tell from the way Zuko tensed immediately that she'd struck a nerve, and any small feeling of accomplishment that sprung up at having guessed correctly was quickly crushed by guilt as the Waterbender saw the hurt plain in Zuko's amber eyes.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he snapped, his voice surprisingly harsh and strained. Katara backed away at once, holding her hands out palms-forward in a gesture of placation.

"Nothing," she replied quickly, her bright blue eyes honest and insistent. "Forget I even said anything. I just—I just wanted to know if there was anything holding you back. I'm sorry for prying."

Zuko saw the consternation on Katara's face and cringed inwardly; he'd lashed out harder than he'd meant to, and now he felt even worse. Because he realized that what she'd said earlier was exactly right. He was constantly letting guilt strangle everything he did, whether or not any of it was even his fault. Katara had seen right through him, in a way that Mai had never even bothered to try doing.

"No," Zuko said lowly, hanging his head slightly. "I'm sorry. I overreacted. The thing is… there is someone else. Or I guess, there was someone else. She got engaged to marry another guy a few weeks back. We had to break up."

Katara kicked herself mentally for having opened up such a fresh wound all over again, but Zuko looked her in the eye and shook his head negatively, as if he could read exactly what she was thinking.

"It's not your problem," he assured her, "and it was a fair question to ask. You and your family have been nothing but kind to me, and the least you deserve is to know the whole situation. Even if it is really messed up," he added with a weak smile, relief rippling through Zuko as he saw the tension and guilt bleed slowly but surely out of Katara's face.

She paused, her eyes clouding over slightly as she seemed to consider an idea. Making up her mind and blinking back to the present, the Waterbender took a few steps forward and reached up, deftly undoing the small red ribbon that held Zuko's topknot in place. His black hair fell down messily around his face, and Katara smiled widely as she ran her hand through it gently.

"There we go," she said, looking at him and clearly satisfied with what she saw. "Much better."

Zuko, for his part, was keenly aware just how close to him the Waterbender had moved. Inside of arm's length, it was practically an unspoken invitation for him to reach out and draw her in even closer. And on top of that, there was no way she could know what sort of effect her touch was having on him. It was precisely this sort of intimacy that he'd gone for so long without— and now that he could feel the hole within him being filled bit by bit, Zuko realized just how large it had grown since Mai had been forced away from him. The prince fought against his desire for a few long heartbeats, but when he saw the anticipation in Katara's eyes, he gave up trying to rein himself in.

Reaching out with one of his arms and hooking it around her waist, Zuko pulled Katara forward a step and a half, bringing her into a full embrace. The Waterbender's hand shifted to the back of his head as she sank into the kiss, bringing her other hand up to rest on his shoulder-blade as she felt Zuko's free hand snake around to grip hers.

The prince felt exultant as the warmth from the kiss spread slowly and comfortingly down to the bottom of his feet and back up again, Katara's gentle insistence a welcome pressure. She deepened the kiss when she felt no resistance from her partner, but was glad to feel his own intensity increase to match hers.

After a few moments that felt simultaneously endless and far too brief, the pair broke apart slowly and caught their breath. Zuko was pleased to see a blush darkening Katara's face, and had no doubts that his face was tinted by a similar color at the moment.

"Wow," she said after a few heartbeats had come and gone, still slightly off-balance. "That was… wow," she finished, words failing her. He laughed, nodding as a smile broke out on his face. It was then that, for the first time, Katara saw the same openness in his waking expression that she'd seen underneath the moonlight.

"Yeah," Zuko agreed, the flush on his skin finally fading away. "Wow."

The two of them stood in silence for a few moments more, each of them wondering what exactly this meant, before they turned and kept walking towards the end of the village outskirts.

As they went, the prince let his hand drift away from his side just enough, and the Waterbender responded by taking it firmly into her own—where it stayed for the rest of the walk.

* * *

**...**

**...  
**

**A/N: **And here we have another chapter that turned out to be much longer than I'd originally planned for, mostly thanks to extensive revisions made between last week and today. That, and I didn't want to shift any more scenes into later chapters, for pacing's sake. So I hope it wasn't a slog to read through, and that you enjoyed it. Even though the emphasis was pretty heavy on political intrigue and developing the side-plots, I'd been waiting to write that final Katara/Zuko scene for a while... so I hope a little fluff can balance things out. And there'll be more Zutara goodness in chapters to come, I promise. ;)

Time to thank the new reviewer this past week, who was an anonymous reviewer that signed their review as **anonymous**. I like their style. And to all other givers of feedback, you rock too. Couldn't keep up my momentum without your kind words.

And now for next week's teaser! Lu Ten returns home with Toph and June, and Zhao gets served another fresh helping of humble pie. Azula spies on Ozai's conversation with Hanzo, with her allegiances hanging in the balance. Zuko teaches Katara basic Firebending forms, and some Firebending philosophy to boot. Meanwhile, Chan arrives in the southern Fire Nation islands and meets with Yon Rha.

The plot thickens, ladies and gentlemen. See you next week, and thanks as always for reading this far!

**-Jazz  
**


	12. Players and Pawns

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 12: **Players and Pawns

* * *

The atmosphere inside the throne room was palpably thick with tension, to the point that even Fire Lord Iroh's usually calm expression was marred by a deeply furrowed pair of eyebrows.

"So, as to the matter of the Northern Water Tribe," Iroh began expansively, hoping against hope that this discussion of it would go a different way then their countless previous ones, "Admiral Jeong Jeong, have we come any closer to getting a stable treaty ratified?"

"I'm afraid not, my Lord," the Admiral said with a slow shake of his head, the firelight behind the throne making the scars on his face stand out in sharp relief. "Chief Arnook is still hesitant to consent to any treaty we would offer him."

"And his reasons?" Iroh pressed his friend, asking for an answer he already knew was coming.

"He said," Jeong Jeong replied gravely through grit teeth, "that as long as our military was headed by men whose honor he suspected to be lacking, he would refuse to forge any kind of alliance with us."

"No doubt his eminence is referring to Commander Zhao's failed raid on Gaoling," General Ozai broke in, half-sneering. "I wouldn't put my faith in someone who spends their time conducting unsanctioned raids on towns we actually _do_ have treaties with, either."

"So this is _my_ fault then, General?" Zhao spat back, hackles raised as his hands slammed down into the great table and he leaned over towards Ozai. "Never mind your constant, public statements of animosity towards the North, _and_ the fact that you've advocated the use of Sozin's Comet against their fortresses for the past few months."

"Silence, both of you!" Iroh commanded, the orange flames leaping up behind him as he spoke. "Bickering amongst ourselves will get us nowhere; I would have thought the past few weeks would have been proof of that. The fact remains that we stand on the brink of finally achieving peace and prosperity among all four nations, brought together without any further bloodshed. We cannot let our own petty squabbles stop us so close to our final victory!"

"Noble words, my lord brother," Ozai spoke smoothly into the silence that followed Iroh's point, "but I don't think that your vision for the future is at all what our grandfather and father fought so hard to realize. The ink on a treaty can be blotted out in a moment, or otherwise forgotten at a convenient time. The absolute victory Sozin had in mind was something else entirely: something much more stable than mere words."

"Need I remind you, General Ozai," Jeong Jeong broke in gruffly, "that the kind of dominance you're suggesting is the absolute most unstable form of control? Several groups of Earth Kingdom rebels are still resisting our current, simply administrative presence in Ba Sing Se and elsewhere in the Kingdom—can you imagine how much fiercer that resistance would be if we employed violent intimidation tactics?"

"The whole point I'm trying to make here, Admiral," the general replied with acidic smoothness, "is that a firm enough hand renders all revolts nonexistent. Rebels can only gather and organize when you give them the chance to do so."

"And we've all seen where that road leads, General Ozai," Fire Lord Iroh rejoined, his expression and voice stern. "Needless violence, and countless lives lost that could have been saved. As long as I lead the Fire Nation, I will not have the blood on my hands that our father and grandfather seemed so comforted by."

Jeong Jeong saw the smug, scornful look that flashed into Ozai's eyes at those words and barely kept his frown from turning into a full-on snarl: it was clear to anyone who looked that the Fire Lord's brother had something up his sleeve. The admiral knew that Iroh wouldn't act until he had concrete evidence of Ozai's treason—which was the honorable thing to do, certainly. But Jeong Jeong knew all too well that 'honor' was a concept the general had no time for.

"If you won't exercise the force needed to maintain control over your own conquered territories," Ozai pressed, "then I hope you're prepared to deal with the Northern Water Tribe when it decides to take the offensive. Good luck deflecting their attack while your forces are fragmented all over the Earth Kingdom, snuffing out ragtag bands of miscreant rebels."

"You still assume that the Northern Water Tribe would take the offensive against us," Iroh countered seriously, "when we have all of the Fire Nation's resources at our backs, along with Omashu and Ba Sing Se as well. No one starts a war they know they can't win, General."

Ozai smiled, the gesture as sharp and cruel as his narrowed, dark amber eyes.

"And what, exactly, would you call a leader who doesn't start a war they know they can't lose?"

"A prudent one," Jeong Jeong cut in before Iroh could reply, his voice as edged and hard as a knife. "Eagerness to march into battle is the sign of a soldier who dreams only of glory and fame, and who has never seen what war can cost."

"Oh please, spare us your platitudes, Admiral," commander Zhao spoke up, his voice rife with plain disdain. "The loss of your sons in the Siege of Ba Sing Se was a terrible tragedy, we all agree to that—but your personal regrets shouldn't be allowed to cripple our entire military."

Jeong Jeong's face darkened as a cloud of fury passed over it, the candles in the sconces on the walls blazing ever so slightly higher.

"You go too far, Zhao," the admiral said dangerously, his voice no higher than a low growl and yet perfectly audible in the large space. "Do not speak of things you do not know, or you will regret it."

The silence that followed held for a few tense heartbeats, the two men locking eyes and standing perfectly still, until the student cracked and yielded the contest to the master with a curt _tsk_.

Iroh relaxed his hands from their firm grips on the arms of his throne and sank back into the chair with a sigh of relief. He hadn't wanted to intervene in the private spat, but he wasn't about to tolerate an open duel in his throne room, either. Just as the Fire Lord opened his mouth to speak again, however, one of the side doors in the large room swung open with a _creak_ just loud enough to be distracting. A messenger shuffled into the room, bowing apologetically, and made his way to within speaking distance of the throne.

"Apologies for interrupting the council, my Lord," the man said gravely, "but the Crown Prince has returned from his journey abroad."

"Excellent!" Iroh exclaimed jovially, a grin blooming back onto his careworn face. "Did he manage to find the girl?"

"Indeed, my Lord," the messenger answered. "Crown Prince Lu Ten has both the young Earthbender and a female bounty hunter with him; one whom he said helped with the embassy to the girl's household."

Iroh's grin turned into a sly smile at that, and his eyes brightened slightly.

"Did this bounty hunter," he asked, "happen to have a red tattoo on her shoulder?"

The other man nodded again.

"She did," he said. "The three of them await only your summons, my Lord," he finished with another bow, shuffling backwards with practiced balance.

"Send them in, send them in!" the Fire Lord said expectantly, still smiling. It had been a long few days, and this was just the news he'd wanted to hear. The messenger exited the room, and after a minute or so of silence, Lu Ten walked into the room, flanked on either side by June and a young girl dressed in Fire Nation red and brown who appeared to be blind.

"Father," the crown prince said solemnly, bowing before the throne. "It is good to see you again. Gentlemen," he continued, turning and bowing to the assembled military leaders. "I hope all has been well in my absence?"

"About as well as can be expected, Crown Prince," Jeong Jeong said tersely, finishing with a pointed glare at Zhao. The commander's eyes, however, were focused only on the young Earthbender.

"That's her," he snarled, not even bothering to hide his contempt. "She's the brat who attacked my platoon."

"I call it self-defense," Toph shot back, completely unfazed by Zhao's open hostility. "And I have a name—it's Toph Bei Fong."

"Grudges are no excuse to ignore basic courtesy, Commander Zhao," the Fire Lord rebuked him mildly, before turning to face Toph with a distinctly paternal smile. "And it would be most discourteous not to refer to our guest by her name—especially when it is a name as illustrious as this one."

"Our 'guest', sir?" Zhao spat, decorum forgotten as his anger continued to seethe. "I think the word you happen to be looking for is 'prisoner'. She violated the terms of our treaty with the Earth Kingdom. She's nothing more than a baseless oathbreaker!"

Iroh opened his mouth to speak, but Toph beat him to it.

"What the hell are you babbling about?" she snapped, sightless eyes narrowing in anger that matched Zhao's pound-for-pound. "You were the one who broke the treaty by trying to rob us blind, not me. And I don't remember killing a single one of your stupid soldiers, either! The worst I did was break some bones, and they took it a lot better than you are right now. Stop complaining and admit you screwed up!"

The audacity of Toph's words left a surprised silence in their wake, which was threatened only by the murmurs of a laugh that Lu Ten was struggling to hide behind a tight smirk. The quiet was broken a moment later by a loud laugh, but it didn't come from the crown prince.

"Well said, girl!" Ozai complemented her, favoring Zhao with a particularly cruel smirk. "If the Earth Kingdom had possessed soldiers with half your spirit during our conquest, Ba Sing Se might still be free of our control. If you need someone to vouch for a formal pardon, brother," the General continued, looking over at the Fire Lord, "I'd be more than happy to do it myself."

Zhao's expression turned completely livid at that, and Lu Ten began to wonder if the commander wasn't about to give himself a stroke. When the Fire Lord gave a slight nod of assent, Zhao all but choked on his rage. Not even bothering to give the formal farewells, he turned and walked swiftly from the room, shoulders hunched in anger.

"You will have to forgive Zhao's temper, Lady Bei Fong," Jeong Jeong said calmly. "He has never been one to bear insults to his pride with any grace."

"Don't worry about it," Toph said easily, before turning to face the Fire Lord and executing a flawless formal curtsy.

"My thanks to you for your mercy, Fire Lord Iroh," she said with pitch perfect, aristocratic solemnity, "and my sincere apologies that it even had to be given. Please, do not let my actions reflect poorly on the honor of my family as a whole."

Iroh smiled again, impressed with the girl's bearing strength of will under pressure.

"There is nothing to forgive," he said warmly, "nor do your actions reflect badly upon your family. In fact, I believe that such fearless dedication to principle and the desire to do the right thing in all matters is the hallmark of a truly good person. You should be proud of yourself."

Toph blushed a deep red at the unexpected praise, and Lu Ten stepped forward to pick up the reins of the conversation.

"If I may, father," the crown prince spoke, "might I suggest that we take on Toph as a temporary ward, so that she could teach the Avatar Earthbending when she arrives?"

"That's an excellent idea," Iroh agreed. "So long as Toph is fine with it, of course."

"I'd be honored to, your eminence," the Earthbender said, and was about to say something else when Ozai cut her off.

"While I have no doubt that routing one of Zhao's platoons was a considerable feat indeed," he said with a smoothness that reminded June of a pit cobra-chameleon, "being taken on as a formal ward of the royal family is a highly-coveted privilege, and not dispensed to just anyone. Prince Lu Ten, can you personally stand for her abilities as an Earthbender?"

"I can, General," the crown prince said with icy courtesy. "We were ambushed by a group of bandits on the road back here, and Toph was essential to defeating them. Without her help, I honestly doubt I would be standing here right now."

"Indeed," Ozai replied, smug satisfaction in his voice that made Lu Ten want to lunge across the room and rip his throat out. "And if I may ask, what happened that let a simple group of bandits surprise you on the road? I assumed those who had earned the title of 'Dragon' were above such things."

"It wasn't just any old bandits that surprised us," June broke in, keeping her satisfaction restrained to her eyes as she dropped the trump card. "It was a group of Yu Yan archers."

The silence that followed the bounty hunter's declaration was heavier than any of the ones that had come before it; taking that as her cue, Toph stepped back and turned, walking over towards the door the trio had come in through.

"What?" Jeong Jeong spoke up at last, plainly shocked. "Are you certain of this?"

"Completely," Lu Ten answered, his eyes fixed on Ozai. "It's impossible to mistake that face-paint, Admiral."

"But only a military officer with a rank of at least General or Admiral can command the Yu Yan," the older Firebender said gravely, his gaze sweeping over each member of the military council in turn. "Which means that whomever ordered this disgraceful mission is guilty of the highest treason against the Fire Nation."

"Be that as it may," Ozai said after just a long enough pause to not seem reactionary, "and as disturbing as this accusation is, it is meaningless without proof. Tell me, Crown Prince: did you happen to bring one of these supposed Yu Yan back with you from the Earth Kingdom?"

The fact that Ozai was clearly expecting him to say 'no' and fold made Lu Ten's smile even wider than it would have otherwise been.

"Why yes, General," he answered with perfect courtesy, inwardly laughing in triumph, "we did. Toph," the crown prince called out, "bring in the prisoner, if you would be so kind."

The Earthbender walked back into the grand chamber a few moments later, followed close behind by a bruised, solemn and silent man wearing the distinctive band of red face-paint across his eyes that marked him as a member of the elite archer corps. His hands were crossed in front of him, encased in a molded block of stone that Toph had made to act as an unbreakable restraint.

"This is the only one who's still breathing," the young Earthbender explained, "but he hasn't said anything since last night."

"I can't believe this," Jeong Jeong breathed, now even more unsettled by the plain reality of high treason staring him in the face. Rounding on the captive archer, the admiral scowled.

"Tell us who ordered you to kill the Crown Prince," he said harshly. "Confess, and I might be persuaded to let you walk out of here alive and spend the rest of your life in a dungeon."

The archer said nothing at first, his impassive eyes telling no tales. But then he sighed, swallowed lightly, and spoke.

"I have the order in my boot," he said.

Lu Ten felt his blood turning to ice-water.

_Why didn't we search him more thoroughly?_ he thought, mentally kicking himself as hard as he possibly could. One quick glance at Ozai's face was all Lu Ten needed to confirm his sinking suspicion that he'd blundered right into his uncle's final trap.

"That should be proof enough of who was behind this," Iroh said firmly. "Lu Ten, read the order and see who signed off on it."

The crown prince could do nothing other than squat down, wrench off the boot in question, and turn it over. A piece of parchment slipped out and landed on the floor, insulated and protected by two thin strips of cloth. Lu Ten picked the order up and unfolded it, scanning the words quickly to get to the bottom.

When he did, he felt his heart sink into his stomach.

"Well?" Iroh prompted expectantly. "Whose name is on the order?"

Lu Ten could barely force the words out past his throat for all of his anger, fighting the urge, once again, to leap across the table and tear out his uncle's throat.

"Admiral Chan," he said as levelly as he could, not daring to look over at the smug grin Ozai was probably wearing for fear that it would snap his self-control completely. "This order has Admiral Chan's name on it."

"Chan?" Zhao echoed, surprised. "I never would have thought him to be the treasonous type. He's too cautious for it."

"Indeed," Jeong Jeong followed up, not bothering to hide his own opinion as he glared over at Ozai. "And is it not odd, my Lord," he continued, turning to Iroh, "that someone as well-trained as a member of the Yu Yan would leave behind physical evidence of something as damning as treason?"

"Are you suggesting, Admiral," Iroh said heavily, "that this order is a forgery?"

"I am," Jeong Jeong said resolutely, determined not to let Ozai get out of this unscathed if he could help it. "I've known Admiral Chan for many years, and the man is nowhere near stupid enough to have done something like this."

"Then who gave the order instead? Who tried to have my son killed?"

Jeong Jeong had opened his mouth to speak when he caught Lu Ten looking at him pointedly out of the corner of his eye; the Admiral knew then that the crown prince wanted him to be silent, and not to make a public accusation without solid proof. So Jeong Jeong bit his tongue and shook his head, feeling powerless and hating himself for it.

"I don't know," he forced out, disgusted. "But you can be sure that I'll ask Admiral Chan about this matter myself."

"I really don't see the need for that," Ozai joined in smoothly, his eyes smirking. "Chan isn't here, is he?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lu Ten snapped, unable to keep his frustration completely out of his voice any longer. The general turned to his nephew and smiled.

"The Admiral was one of the people called to this council," Ozai explained, "and yet, he's absent. No doubt as soon as word of your safe return reached him, he knew not to come to this meeting for fear his crime would be exposed. His guilt is all but certain."

"But how would Chan have gotten news of the Crown Prince's arrival before us?" Zhao countered, jumping at the chance to turn the screws on Ozai. But the general had been waiting for the question, and fielded it easily.

"He has eyes at the ports, Commander," he answered. "All it would have taken was one little rat scurrying to him as soon as Lu Ten and his companions arrived this morning—certainly a faster way of relaying news than a cumbersome network of messengers."

Lu Ten's face was still, but his fists were clenched so tightly they were trembling. Only June's hand coming to rest on his shoulder calmed him down, and even then it was a close thing.

"This is most disturbing news," Iroh said at last, his expression troubled. "Admiral Jeong Jeong, go ahead and speak with Admiral Chan about the order here. But be careful: a man is at his most dangerous backed into a corner.

"For now, though," the Fire Lord finished wearily, rising from his throne, "I think we could all do with some rest. Lu Ten, please see Toph to her chambers—the old guest room should be suitable. I think I'm going to make myself some Jasmine tea. June, would you be so kind as to accompany me?"

"Of course, sir," the bounty hunter said, shooting Lu Ten a quick glance as she followed Iroh down the length of the room towards the main double-door. The crown prince turned and walked silently with Toph through the door they'd entered earlier, leaving Ozai and Jeong Jeong alone in the throne room a few moments later. The admiral gave the general a long, withering glare, but said nothing, before departing in turn.

Once he was alone, Ozai finally let his mask drop. He smiled exultantly, elated that Lu Ten had lacked the foresight to avoid the one final snare he'd set for him. Of course, having the crown prince alive at all was a problem that would need to be fixed as soon as possible… but now the suspicion would be split between Ozai and admiral Chan, giving the general more than enough time to remove Lu Ten from the game for good. No doubt the crown prince and Jeong Jeong would be nipping at his heels, but Ozai wasn't concerned about them at all.

_Perhaps,_ the general thought to himself as he left the throne room, _it's time I gave Long Feng's sleeper agents something to do._

Ozai made his way briskly though the wide halls of the royal palace, not even bothering to return the polite, mildly terrified greetings of the various groundskeeping staff and minor officials he passed by. He had far better things to do with his time, on top of the fact that socializing with the common rabble was among the easiest ways to undermine a distinguished reputation.

"General, might I trouble you for a word?"

_Which was exactly,_ Ozai growled to himself as he looked over to find the crippled librarian hunched over at attention, _why I told my underlings never to approach me in public._

"It had better be the most important word I hear all day," the general said lowly as soon as a quick glance around had confirmed they were alone, "or I'll break both of your legs myself."

The crippled librarian nodded, his one visible eye serious as he leaned on his bamboo cane for support.

"I assure you, Sir," Hanzo said with deference and a nod, "that I wouldn't have come to you here if it wasn't. I need to talk to you about your daughter."

Ozai's eyes widened slightly at that, and his posture relaxed as his interest rose.

"Oh, you found out something already?" the general asked, and the librarian nodded. "What is it?"

"Princess Azula dined with her mother last night," Hanzo answered, his tone serious. "I think your concerns about the strength of her loyalty to you were well-founded, after all."

"Really," Ozai said, acid and suspicion beginning to creep back into his voice in equal measure as his muscles tensed again. "And tell me: how exactly were you in a position to hear this?"

The librarian let himself smile behind his bandages, his lone visible eye sharp with bitter humor.

"As your lordship knows," Hanzo said with another nod, "I can be quite unassuming when it is required of me—I believe that's what convinced you to hire me in the first place, was it not?"

Ozai's eyes sharpened; he wasn't about to let his minion off the hook just yet.

"Go on."

"I just told someone in the kitchen staff that I could take their shift over for the night," the librarian explained, shifting his weight so it was more evenly supported by his cane. "He was more than happy to get a few extra hours worth of sleep, and I got to spend the whole night waiting next to a surprisingly thin wall for each course to end. That's how I overheard the conversation, General."

After a few tense moments of silence, Ozai nodded.

"I see," he said, apparently satisfied. "Well then—what did my daughter say that led you to your conclusion, exactly?"

Hanzo shrugged.

"The Lady Ursa seemed to convince Azula that your affection for her is nothing more than a sham, serving to manipulate her to whatever end might fit your needs at a given time," the librarian said flatly, as if reciting the line from his memory of the conversation the previous night. "It was all a lie, I'm sure," Hanzo added in quickly, and the general chuckled darkly.

"I find that hard to believe," Ozai said. "Azula has more steel in her than to be weakened by simple words. Zuko let his cousin and uncle talk him away from a place at my side, but his sister wouldn't fall prey to the same trap."

"There was something else, Sir," the librarian continued, not missing a beat as he fought to stay one step ahead of his superior. "Lady Ursa also made it plain to her daughter that you have no regard for the bonds of family, and explained to her that if you ever thought you had a chance to take the throne for yourself, you would do it. Even if that meant killing your own brother and nephew in the process."

"I see," the general repeated, his voice much lower and more venomous this time as his eyes narrowed. "And what sort of moral did she take away from that pointless bit of drivel?"

"The one her mother was hoping for, no doubt," Hanzo finished solemnly, fighting down a sigh of relief. Ozai was buying his story so far, and he only needed to take it a little bit further. "That— since you clearly didn't mind killing some of your own family members to achieve your goals— everyone who either failed you or hindered your goals was disposable, whether or not they had your blood."

The words caused Ozai to snort openly in derision.

"And the sky is blue," he said mockingly. "Do you have something of substance to tell me, or have I just wasted precious minutes of my life waiting for you to restate the obvious?"

"As I was saying, Sir," Hanzo answered as earnestly as he could without pushing too hard, "All of this has given me good reason to assume that Azula's faith in you has been shaken. Without the assurance of your favor—"

"If she ever fails me," the general cut him off sharply, his patience at an end, "then Azula will deserve whatever punishment I choose to give her."

"Of course," Hanzo said lowly, twisting his hunched body into an awkward bow as apology for his forwardness. "In that case, if Azula should turn against you… what would you have me do?"

"You? You would do nothing. I will look to my progeny myself—and discipline her in the old way, as befits royalty."

It only took Hanzo a moment to catch Ozai's implication, and his eye went wide. Even he hadn't expected the general to go _that_ far.

"An Agni Kai?" he breathed, shocked. "Against your own child?"

Ozai was still for a heartbeat, before his hand lashed out so quickly that the librarian didn't even have time to flinch before his forearm was held in a tight grip.

And then the flesh on his arm began to burn with agonizing slowness, and it took every single ounce of Hanzo's strength to bite back a scream.

"Your opinion on the matter means less than nothing to me," Ozai said coldly as his grip tightened, his amber eyes flinty. "Keep up your impertinence, and I'll find another little rat to scurry around the palace for me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Hanzo barely managed to force out through the pain, thinking about anything and everything other than his arm.

The general let go and walked away, leaving the bastard prince to fall to his knees, his sheathed sword hitting the ground next to him with an impotent _thud_. Hanzo shed his robe as soon as he was sure Ozai was out of sight, blinking hard in a vain attempt to clear his vision. The cloth strips that made up the rest of his disguise came next as heat rushed through him, and the bastard prince was thankful that they only went down as far as his neck.

Hanzo hazarded a look down at his left arm, and what he saw made him immensely glad that he was right-handed. A band of bright red as wide as Ozai's hand circled the limb, and it would take a long time before the injury scarred over and the color began to fade.

The pain finally began to subside as the nerve-endings in the burned skin simply gave up trying to cope and shut off, and Hanzo sighed in strained relief.

"Well," he said flatly, "that's certainly not how I saw that going in my head."

The sound of princess Azula walking out from behind the pillar she'd used to conceal herself broke the quiet that had settled over the hallway, and she moved slowly over towards the bastard prince.

"At least I got you your proof, though, just like I pro—" Hanzo's voice stopped in his throat as he looked over and saw the look on Azula's face. She seemed torn between wanting to cry and wanting to murder the next living thing she saw—and since the bastard prince was willing to bet everything he owned that the princess would commit suicide before crying in front of him, he didn't much like his odds.

"An Agni Kai?" Azula said at last, her voice much quieter than Hanzo had been expecting. "Father would challenge…" the princess trailed off, apparently still trying to wrap her head around what she'd heard. "I'd expect something like that if Zuko went against him," she continued after a moment. "But not _me_. How _dare_ he. I'm…"

The bastard prince could see what the emotional turmoil was doing to her, and he felt guilt spike up through what pain was still lingering around the edges of his awareness. He didn't enjoy seeing Azula have her entire worldview shattered; he'd thought that he'd be doing her a favor by freeing her from the illusion that Ozai cared about her at all, but Hanzo hadn't expected her father to be _that_ harsh about it.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "That couldn't have been easy to hear."

Azula stared at him, but it only took a moment before her shock at hearing something so painfully obvious was replaced by pure anger. She didn't need anyone's pity, least of all _his_.

"Screw you," she spat, her amber eyes narrowing in what Hanzo thought was an uncanny impression of her father's earlier death-glare. "You have no idea what that felt like. You're not even true royalty—you're just some dead king's contingency plan."

The bastard prince looked taken aback for all of a heartbeat before he smiled, but it was a bitter, mirthless thing.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" he asked, acid dripping from every word. "I've been carrying that chip on my shoulder since the day I was born, Princess. I'm used to it." Hanzo turned and began to walk away, but gave one last parting shot over his shoulder as he did so.

"Here's my advice to you, take it or leave it," he said. "The sooner you realize that being royalty means less than nothing if other people with more power than you want you dead, the more likely it is you'll live to see your next birthday. If you still want to go simpering after your father like some over-dependent puppy, though, it's your funeral."

Hanzo heard her move even though her mouth didn't make a sound, tensing his muscles and waiting for the strike to come. He knew the princess would go after his injured left arm… and he also knew that Azula would assume he'd think that, so he spun to the left and let the enraged princess pass through the empty space to his right.

"Are we really going to do this again?" he asked, more weary than angry as he dodged another punch. "I'd much rather be treating this burn so it doesn't scar worse than it already will, Princess."

The next strike was accompanied by fire, so the bastard prince began to take quick steps back towards where he'd let his sword fall to the ground. He jumped backwards as soon as he was close enough, snatching it off the ground and letting the blade out of its sheath with a cold _hiss_.

Azula was undeterred, clenching one fist and focusing her fire into a thin, pulsing blade of her own. Hanzo smiled.

"Not bad," he allowed, readying his sword as Azula held hers in a reversed grip. "Done holding back, are we?"

The princess gave a smile of her own, one that was decidedly bloodthirsty.

"I never do."

A heartbeat later, they clashed. And to the bastard prince's great surprise, the blade of blue fire stayed solid when it slammed against his steel. He 'd expected for it to give way and be re-formed, and barely had time to correct his stance and shift away before the fire came arcing towards him. Realizing that he had to keep up a constant offensive if he wanted to make it out of this without another burn, Hanzo took one step back before pressing the attack in a flurry of blows. The burned part of his left arm was beginning to throb with dull pain again, but he fought it down and kept fighting.

Azula had to give her opponent credit for holding up this well after that burn her father had gifted him with, but she knew that as soon as she'd deprived Hanzo of his sword, there was no way he'd be able to win the fight. She kept up trading blows, searing blue flame singing against obstinate metal, until she felt her opponent's stamina beginning to wane. The unexpected burn had taken more of a toll on him than he'd wanted to let slip, but Hanzo's slowing reflexes betrayed him all the same.

As soon as she'd blocked the next strike, Azula shifted her weight and dropped into a sweep kick, cutting the bastard prince's legs out from under him. He fell to the ground, and the princess wasted no time in springing to her feet and bringing her foot down hard on Hanzo's right wrist, disarming him as the sword slipped from his weakened grip. And judging by the stifled look of pain that flashed across his face in that instant, Azula knew she'd most likely broken his wrist-bone as well. She crouched down and picked up the orphaned sword, holding the blade to Hanzo's throat.

"I win," she said with vicious satisfaction, feeling exultant enough in her unqualified victory that she almost forgot about what her father had said earlier.

"For the second time, if memory serves," Hanzo forced out through the fresh wave of pain, wondering to himself if he would ever catch a break. "What's your point, Princess? Kill me and get it over with. You broke my wrist; finish what you started."

"Why would I do that?" Azula countered, her eyes narrowing slightly in confusion. "You're of no use to me dead."

Now it was Hanzo's turn to be puzzled.

"What?"

"I'm sparing your life, Hanzo," the princess said simply. "As far as I'm concerned, that means I own it. Body and soul, you belong to me now—and I plan to put you to very good use."

The bastard prince gave a weak chuckle, the compounded trauma his body had suffered over the last few minutes finally bringing him to the edge of unconsciousness.

"How could I possibly help you like this, Azula?"

"I'll make sure your injuries are seen to," Hanzo heard her voice speak to him faintly as his awareness slipped ever closer to the darkness,

"And then you're going to help me take down my father."

* * *

Chan tied his boat to a plain wooden docking stump and stood up straight again, stretching out his stiff back as he took in the drab and dreary panorama. He'd been told that a fair number of the southern islands were little more than boondocks, but actually seeing how provincial this place was made Chan shudder. How did people live somewhere so disconnected from the Fire Nation mainland without going insane? Having a getaway house on Ember Island was one thing—both as a temporary refuge and a mark of status—but actually settling down for good in a place like this was just crazy.

Making his way through the empty dirt street that passed for a twisted parody of a main thoroughfare, Chan saw a lone man standing at a stall selling fruit and made his way over.

"Hey," the young soldier said after he'd gotten close enough, "I'm looking for someone. You know everyone around here?"

The fruit vendor shrugged, offering up a thin smile.

"There's no one else around to buy food from," he answered, "so yeah; I suppose I do. Who're you lookin' for?"

"Yon Rha," Chan said, his expression stony.

The vendor clammed up instantly, one of his hands clenching into a fist while the other one got oddly fidgety all of a sudden.

"That's one name I don't know," he said at last. "Never heard of him."

Chan's mouth curved into a smug smirk.

"I never said Yon Rha was a guy."

The vendor went white as a sheet. But before he could do anything else, Chan dropped four gold pieces on the counter.

"Relax," the young soldier said, his smirk shifting back into an easy smile. "I'll make it worth your while. I just need to know where he is."

It took the fruit man all of five seconds to weigh his options, before he snatched up the money and pocketed it with practiced swiftness.

"Go over those two small hills that way," he said quickly, gesturing over the horizon to his left. "Then go down the stone staircase you'll find, and down that road until you pass through an archway. Yon Rha's house is the second on the left past the arch.

"Thank you very much," Chan said, turning around and beginning to walk away…

Before he spun quickly back around and shot a single burst of fire right into the fruit vendor's chest, killing him instantly.

"What an idiot," the young soldier said callously as he picked his money back out of the dead man's pocket. "Why would I leave any witnesses?"

The low rumble of thunder sounded off in the distance, and Chan could tell from the gathering clouds overhead that it was going to rain soon. Quickening his pace, he hurriedly followed the directions he'd been given— but not quite fast enough. As he arrived at Yon Rha's front door, Chan's mouth curled down into a frown when a light cascade of raindrops fell down onto his head.

It took four knocks before the door opened, and a tired-looking man with gray hair and a heavily-wrinkled face peered out at the unexpected visitor suspiciously.

"Who're you?" Yon Rha asked shortly. "What do you want?"

Chan smiled.

"I want to get you out of here and back into doing something useful," he said. "You interested, Captain?"

The older man's face went hard in the blink of an eye, and his fists clenched at his sides.

"Who are you?" he repeated, dangerously this time.

"A messenger for an old acquaintance of yours," Chan replied smoothly. "Commander Zhao. He wanted me to give you this."

Chan removed the pardon from the inside of his vest and handed it to Yon Rha, pushing past him into the shelter of the house as the old soldier stepped back and unrolled the scroll. While he was reading it, a squat, ugly, mean-looking old woman shuffled into the room.

"Yon Rha," she crowed, and Chan felt a sudden, stabbing impulse to burn out her vocal chords, "who's this stranger, and why is he in our house? I thought you were going to get your lazy butt down to the market half an hour ago! I'm starving!"

"This is a friend of a friend, mother," Yon Rha answered distractedly as he finished the scroll, before rolling it back up and giving Chan a crooked smile.

"I'll do it," he said, "but tell Zhao he can keep his pardon."

One of Chan's eyebrows arched in confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"Fire Lord Iroh will have my head cut off if he ever sees my face again, or hears I've set foot on the Fire Nation mainland," the former captain of the Southern Raiders explained. "I have no use for a pardon that would just get me killed. But if Zhao's giving me some extra manpower, I'd be more than happy to lead the Sea Ravens one last time."

"Yon Rha, what the hell are you talking about?" the old soldier's mother half-screeched. "You're not a soldier anymore; you got banished. You have to stay here and take care of me, you ungrateful, lazy lout!"

"I still don't understand," Chan persisted, doing his best to ignore the ranting of Yon Rha's mother. "If you're not getting a reward out of this, why bother taking the risk of hunting down the Avatar?"

Yon Rha's smile hardened with a viciousness that Chan hadn't expected to see... not out of the soldier he'd assumed had broken down a long time ago, at least.

"Because those sniveling little wretches in the Southern Water Tribe are the reason I was banished to this miserable spit of an island," the former captain answered, his faded amber eyes cold with malice. "They failed to understand that the Fire Nation holds a place of unquestionable superiority among the Four Nations, and I took the blame for their impertinence.

"I've been waiting for years to see them get what they deserve, boy— to see the South Pole burn before I die. And I'm certainly not about to pass the chance up to do it myself."

"Yes, you are!" the old woman cawed, anger plain in her wrinkled face and beady eyes. "You're going to stay right where you are, and I'm going to get this rude young man out of our house this instant! Get out, you troublemaker!"

The blast of fire was quick and pitiless, snuffing the life out of the old woman before she'd even hit the ground. Chan let his fist unclench slowly, waiting to see if Yon Rha would react. He didn't, and the younger soldier smiled.

"So," he said, "how about we go round up your old crewmates?"

Yon Rha bared his teeth in a smile that bordered on manic, his dull eyes flaring once more with life.

"Nothing would make me happier."

* * *

"That's almost perfect," Zuko said, looking critically over Katara's Firebending stance. "Widen it a bit more." The Waterbender did so, and the prince nodded his approval. "Don't forget to breathe, either," he reminded her. "Breath control is just as important as the strength of your stance."

"I know that, Zuko," Katara snapped, fighting to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "That's all you've been saying for the past ten minutes. I have it under control; let's just start sparring already!"

The prince smirked, thinking of a way he could test his student's self-control. Moving around behind Katara, Zuko watched her tense, wary. He waited patiently for her guard to drop; as soon as he saw the muscles in her back ease up again, Zuko stepped forward in one smooth motion and wrapped his arms gently around her midsection, letting his head come to rest just above her shoulder.

"You have it under control, huh?" he whispered into her ear, inwardly pleased as he felt her breathing become more rapid almost instantly. "Yeah," the prince said with a lightly teasing tone, tightening his grip ever-so-slightly and feeling her react, "it looks like you're in total control, Katara." Zuko placed a single kiss right at the point where her neck met her jaw, and the Waterbender gave a small shudder.

"I hate you," she said, her voice strong but weakening as she fought against the distraction. "This isn't even close to fair."

"Fair?" Zuko echoed with a light chuckle, the reaction forcing Katara to fight back another shiver. "Compared to being in an actual fight," he continued quietly, "this is nothing."

"I can handle myself in a fight," the Waterbender insisted stubbornly as the Firebender kept up his sporadic kisses, pointedly ignoring the light heat that seemed to radiate out from each one. "If you want some proof," she forced out through grit teeth as a caress on her neck almost made her knees wobble, "stop messing around and I'll show you."

"Make me," Zuko whispered mischievously into her ear, the smug satisfaction in his voice impossible to miss. Katara relaxed her stance completely, pressing herself back against the prince. He responded instinctively, shifting his body to avoid being thrown off-balance—

And the Waterbender struck.

Lashing out with a swift elbow, Katara hoped to catch Zuko off-guard and put him on his knees. But the prince had been waiting for that, and jumped back as soon as he felt her muscles tensing for the blow. He skidded back in the snow a few inches after he landed, moving with practiced ease into a basic attack stance.

"Very nice," he said with a smile, an edge to his voice that implied he wasn't just talking about the counter-attack. "Always be on the lookout for openings in your opponent's form; they're the keys to winning any duel."

Katara didn't waste any time talking, launching right into a rapid barrage of fire blasts. She shot four out from her fists using a series of quick punches before stepping forward with her lead foot, channeling her _chi_ out through the side of it and causing a thin wave of fire to sweep outwards along the ground. Caught in between attacks from both above and below, Katara knew that Zuko was trapped; all she had to do was wait for him to slip up, and then move in for the final blow.

Zuko saw the flurry of attacks and braced himself, looking for a gap he could exploit as the blazing energy raced toward him. Through the space in the middle, he saw Katara's stance relax just enough and sighed; she was overconfident, slipping back into her Waterbending instincts and waiting for him to react to her attack before she did anything else.

Determined to show her why that would never work against him, Zuko dropped low to the ground and swung his legs around in a wide arc, using his arms as a fulcrum. The wave of flame that erupted from his feet was more than strong enough to cancel out Katara's attack, and his change of position allowed the prince to drop right under the four fireballs as they shot over him.

Katara realized her error too late; Zuko was already pushing himself back up to his feet by the time he saw her eyes widen in surprise as she shifted back into an offensive stance. He launched a single, focused, serpentine blast of fire from both fists that slammed hard into the ground at her feet, throwing the Waterbender a short way up into the air before she hit the soft snow with a muted _thud_.

"Ugh," she groaned, dazed, fighting to clear her vision while Zuko jogged over to her side. "So much for 'keeping your stance firm'," she groused, blinking hard as the prince took her arm and helped her to her feet. "I might as well call you 'Sifu Do As I Say, Not As I Do.'"

"I told you that finding openings in your opponent's stance was important," Zuko said evenly. "Don't give me anything to work with, and that won't happen again. Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Katara said resolutely, disengaging herself from his grip and brushing the rest of the snow off of her clothes. "I admit it," she sighed, "I slacked off at the end there, and I shouldn't have."

"Exactly," the prince replied with a nod. "When you have an advantage, press it. If you don't, the fight will go on longer than it should…"

"And if that happens, the risk is worse that I might slip up," the Waterbender finished for him, reciting the line that had been drummed into her memory. "And if I slip up, I'll lose the fight."

"See, you get how the principles of Firebending work just fine," Zuko said after a moment. "What's holding you back?"

"I don't know," Katara sighed, looking dejected. "It's just… it doesn't _feel_ right, Zuko. Being that aggressive, it's not what Waterbenders do. We're…"

"Passive?" Zuko supplied, and Katara nodded. The prince's thoughts went back to the time Katara had healed his injured chest, remembering how assertive she'd been back then. Somehow, he didn't think passivity was the issue here.

"Maybe," he said slowly, "we're just looking at this the wrong way. Here; I want you to spar with me using Waterbending."

Katara raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"How's that going to help me with my Firebending?" she asked, but Zuko was unfazed.

"You'll see," he assured her. "Just trust me on this."

Katara got into a Waterbending stance, waiting until Zuko had assumed the first posture of the Dancing Dragon before beginning the spar. She loosened the ice beneath his feet with a swift downward wave of her arms, but Zuko was light enough on his feet to jump back onto solid ground before the water swallowed him up. The prince retaliated with a quick jab of flame, but Katara stood her ground and blocked the projectile with a wall of ice.

Melting the barrier a heartbeat later, the Waterbender flicked her wrists and sent dozens of tiny icicle needles screeching toward the prince. Zuko swept his arms out in front of him, creating a shield of flame that lasted just long enough to melt the attack. Katara kept up the assault, pulling a wave of water out from beneath the ice, freezing it, and sliding along the inside of the curve so she could flank Zuko. The Waterbender liquefied the ice behind her as she went, hurling it at the prince right when her feet touched the ground. Zuko was caught in the wave and pulled up, and as soon as the wall of water hit its peak, Katara froze it with two smooth motions.

Zuko was trapped inside the wall of ice, his hands and feet held in a vise-grip out in front of him to prevent any sort of bending. But rather than looking angry at his defeat, the prince laughed and gave his student an open smile.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked, and Katara looked at him curiously.

"I still don't get the point of that," she said, raising an eyebrow as she lazily melted the wall of ice and freed Zuko from its hold. Seeing him shiver from the sudden damp chill the water had given him, Katara gently pulled the water away from his clothes and dumped it back onto the ground, where it quickly froze back into the sheet of ice.

"Thanks," Zuko said, forming small flames in his hands to warm his body back up. "Well," the prince continued after he'd recovered, "you won that spar, didn't you?"

"… of course I did," Katara said slowly, as if Zuko was asking her to perform simple arithmetic. "I'm a Waterbender— _and_ the Avatar— and we're surrounded by water. There was no way I was going to lose that fight."

"Exactly," the prince insisted. "You knew you were going to win that fight, and you did. That's what Firebending is all about. The point isn't being aggressive for no reason—you need to focus all of your energy on victory, and nothing else."

"Without any negative emotions, right?" Katara said with a bitter smirk, and Zuko shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't say it would be easy," he answered simply, drawing a sigh from the Waterbender. "If you want to, we can wait until after you've learned Earthbending and Airbending before trying more with Firebending."

Zuko could see the frustration and anger plain on Katara's face, but she kept them simmering. In the end she sighed and brought a block of ice up from the ground, sitting down on it before leaning back and looking up at the clear blue sky. She absently blew another cloud of breath out of the corner of her mouth, lost in thought.

"Who was the last Fire Nation Avatar?" she asked at last as Zuko laid down next to her, glad for the gentle cool of the ice to ease the fatigue out of his back.

"Avatar Roku," the prince said, a small puff of white punctuating the answer. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just… I've done this before, Zuko," Katara said, a slight strain of anxiety coloring her voice. "Hundreds of times. I can feel it, somewhere in the corner of my mind. But I still can't do it _now_."

"No one's expecting you to," Zuko reminded her gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Take your time and master the other elements first—you don't have to rush it. It's not like we're fighting a war, or anything."

"Yet."

Zuko grimaced.

"Yet."

A few heartbeats passed in silence before Katara slid sideways, allowing Zuko to wrap his arm around her shoulders while she leaned her head into the crook of his neck.

"Tell me the truth," she said softly. "If your father started a war, what would you do?"

Zuko sighed, tightening his grip on the Waterbender ever so slightly.

"I'm happy right where I am," he said with conviction, "and my father certainly isn't going to change that."

"Good," Katara said with a smile, turning her head and giving him a light, lingering kiss on the lips. When she broke apart from him, though, her eyes were serious. "I'm holding you to that promise," she said. "Break it, and I'll beat you down even worse than I just did."

Zuko laughed, then kissed her back.

"All the more reason for me to stay."

* * *

…

…

**A/N: **Whew. For the third time in a row, this chapter kind of ran away from me. I still blame it on Azula and Hanzo; those two are way too much fun to write together, and they always steal a few extra hundred words out of their scenes. Also, Ozai being a snake is probably as much fun for me to write as it is most likely infuriating for you guys to read- - what a jerk. I hope the scene with Chan and Yon Rha wasn't too grim... but considering that Yon Rha offered up his mother to Katara as a sacrificial lamb in canon, I didn't think he'd mind her getting offed here that much.

Fortunately we had Zutara fluff to come to the rescue once again, and Zuko even got a chance to wear the pants in the relationship for a bit this week! But every dog has his day, I suppose. Don't get too used to it, Prince.

Now it's time to thank the new reviewers who've chimed in over the past week! **NonsensicalLyrics, Ella Palladino, jnpg **and **Tell-Me-Tales**, welcome aboard. Glad to have y'all here. And since **jnpg** reviewed anonymously, I'll answer his question here about Katara's age in the story: She's 15, one year younger than Zuko. I had Lu Ten kill Aang prior to the start of the story, and Katara was born immediately after that happened... much like how the series transitions right from Roku's death to Aang's birth in 'The Avatar and the Fire Lord'. Hope that clears that up.

Thanks also to everyone else who's been reviewing throughout the course of the story, whether consistently or sporadically... your kind words and thoughtful feedback mean a great deal, and keep the wind in my sails when it comes time to sit down and write. And that's a lot of enthusiasm. You're all awesome.

So now I guess it's on to next week's teaser! Iroh and June talk about what happened in Gaoling over tea, while Lu Ten crosses paths with Ozai. Azula learns about Hanzo while he recovers, and begins to form a plan to get back at her father for slighting her. Hanzo, meanwhile, must choose whom to serve going forward. And last, but certainly not least, we shift our attention to Ba Sing Se for the first time to see what a certain hooksword-wielding double-agent and perpetually gloomy, pointy-projectile-slinging girl have been up to. So to all of you who've been waiting for those two to appear, the wait's almost over.

Thank you very much for reading this far, and I hope to see you back next week!

**- Jazz**


	13. Bonds

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 13: **Bonds**  
**

* * *

"I don't think I've ever thanked you," Iroh said as the Fire Lord and the bounty hunter walked into his chambers and sat down at the main table, "for saving my nephew's life during that ambush."

"Lu Ten told you about that, did he?" June replied, the grimace plain in her voice. Iroh smirked as he busied himself readying a teapot. "It was nothing, really," the bounty hunter persisted, and the Fire Lord's smirk widened.

"Nevertheless," he said casually, "it was greatly appreciated. Especially by Lady Ursa—she's been wanting to meet you for some time and express her gratitude."

The mention of the name made the hairs on the back of June's neck stand up as she remembered what Senyaka had said about Ozai's wife, but she decided to feign ignorance altogether, just to be safe.

"Zuko's mother?" June asked with perfect curiosity, arching an eyebrow. Iroh nodded.

"The one and only," he answered as he sent a small wisp of fire to light the coals underneath the pot. "When we finish our tea, you should go talk to her; she just recently returned from a trip down to the Southern Water Tribe."

"The Southern Water Tribe? I'm surprised they'd let anything carrying a Fire Nation flag get near their shores, after what Azulon did to them."

The Fire Lord sighed, his shoulders slouching slightly with the memory of his father's relentless campaign of conquest.

"Yes," Iroh agreed, "those scars did run deep. I tried to help us move past them together, but certain people had… other ideas."

June knew that the Fire Lord was referring to Yon Rha's unsanctioned raid and subsequent banishment, but she saw no reason to open that old wound back up again—and especially not when she had much more important things to say to Iroh, while she had his ear.

"The person who put the contract out on the Crown Prince," she said evenly, her gray eyes watching keenly to gauge the Fire Lord's reaction to the news, "was General Ozai."

Iroh didn't react to that at all, apart from straightening his back while he put a cup in front of his place and passed one over to June. He said nothing as the water came to a boil inside the pot and the tea-leaves were added in to steep; the bounty hunter grew more and more tense with each passing minute that the Fire Lord held his silence.

"And do you have proof of this?" Iroh asked at last, his voice as smooth and hard and dark as a polished piece of obsidian. June had to fight to repress a shiver.

"No, sir," she said curtly. "The contract was announced only by word of mouth, but it was passed along through one of the General's most trusted couriers. It was him; I'm sure of it."

"Even the most firm assumptions are only assumptions, and nothing more," the Fire Lord rebuked her as he poured the first steeping, although his tone was not as harsh as June had been expecting. If anything, it was weary. "Without proof, what do you expect me to do with this information? Accuse my brother openly of treason, and start a civil war without proper cause? No," Iroh finished, quietly, as much to himself as to her, "I can't do that. I won't."

In that moment, June saw just how old he was; the man who had, in his prime, taken Ba Sing Se itself and been titled the Dragon of the West. But now that man was older, fraught with care and torn almost to pieces by agonizing over an impossible choice. It was painful for June to see, and she could only imagine how hard it would be for Lu Ten to deal with watching his own father in such misery. And it was clear that, even if he wouldn't act definitively without proof, some part of the Fire Lord's heart knew his brother was behind the attempt on his son's life—and that part of it was breaking.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, after taking the first sip of the most delicious tea she'd had in quite some time. "I shouldn't have said anything."

Iroh shook his head and took a long sip of tea, letting silence settle back over the room for a few moments as he closed his eyes in thought.

When he opened them again, they glinted with a strange combination of humor and sadness.

"You must think I'm a fool," the Fire Lord said at last, keen focus seeping in around the edges of his normal grandfatherly tone. June was on edge at once, knowing her reply would be judged. "My brother is plotting to take my seat on the throne, and I sit here doing nothing."

"King Zhou told me once," the bounty hunter said at last, "that a smart ruler never rushes into making a hard decision."

"And King Zhou is dead," Iroh reminded her with a grim smile as he took another sip of tea. "So what does that say about his advice, I wonder?"

June had no patience for playing a game that she didn't know the rules to, and made no effort to keep her frustration in check.

"What do you want me to say?" she snapped, keeping her voice from rising any higher than normal so the guards didn't think she was trying to harm the Fire Lord. "That your brother is a conniving snake and you should cut his head off? If I told you that, you'd probably just say that killing Ozai would split the army in half, and the people he'd made rich and powerful would be screaming for your blood.

"With all due respect, Sir," June finished, her gray eyes smoldering, "riddles with no right answer are worse than pointless."

The Fire Lord held his grim expression for a few more heartbeats before it cracked, the melancholy evaporating from his face to be replaced by mirth as his grin widened and his eyes glinted with something close to mischief.

"You'll have to forgive an old man his riddles, I'm afraid," Iroh said warmly. "I just wanted to know what it is my son sees in you that has him so captivated… and now I do."

June had no idea how to react to such a sudden shift in mood, and she blinked twice before her tongue started working again.

"What are you talking about?" she replied, her eyebrows arched in surprise. "What does Lu Ten have to do with any of this?"

"Quite a great deal, actually," Iroh answered, the look on his face giving June the distinctly uncomfortable feeling that he was secretly laughing at a hilarious inside joke and she had no idea whether or not she was the punch-line. "But before we get to that, I've always wondered something, June: did my son ever tell you about the risk he took, when he chose to sneak into Ba Sing Se and take you back from the rest of the Red Vipers?"

The bounty hunter was completely unsure of where this was going, but at this point she saw no reason not to see it through to the end.

"You mean that he could have died fighting through them to get to me?" she countered. "Yeah, I realized that right around the time the roof started caving in over our heads."

Iroh smiled again and shook his head, taking another long sip of tea before speaking.

"Not only that," he replied. "Something far more serious, in fact."

"More serious than _dying_? What else could he have put on the line?"

Iroh shifted forward in his seat, and suddenly June found herself looking at the veteran soldier who had brought the Earth Kingdom to heel. Gone was the troubled, fragile old man the bounty hunter had glimpsed earlier… how many people had he let see through that mask?

"Think about it, June," the Fire Lord insisted. "My son told me you were in the army for a time before the Vipers recruited you; you know how their rules work. When you snuck into our camp to assassinate Lu Ten, you learned where his tent was. You saw the layout of the most important section of our camp… surely you knew how important that information was, didn't you?"

June saw where this was going, and felt an odd clenching sensation in her chest.

"If I'd acted on it," she said, "a night raid could have killed you all."

Iroh nodded.

"Precisely," he confirmed, his eyes sharp and focused. "And the rest of the military council I had accompanying me came to that same realization. If our security had been compromised because of what you knew, Lu Ten would have been held responsible for it. A court-martial would have been the least of his worries."

"So they would have executed him," June said calmly, trying to dismiss the increasingly knotted feeling in her stomach. Had he really put so much on the line for her sake? "How is that any worse than him dying to rescue me?"

The Fire Lord smiled again, but this time it was completely bitter.

"They wouldn't have killed him," Iroh corrected the bounty hunter. "My father was nowhere near that merciful. Lu Ten would have been stripped of his rank and title, dishonorably discharged, removed from the line of succession and most likely banished, left to wander the earth as a vagrant.

"Eventually, when it crossed his mind again," the Fire Lord continued with a casualness that chilled June to the bone, "my father probably would have ordered Lu Ten to be hunted down and brought back to court. Then, he would have staged a show-trial, declared my son guilty and sentenced him to death.

"And in all likelihood," Iroh finished, his eyes as dark as June had ever seen them, "I would have been the one holding the sword."

The words hit the bounty hunter like a hammer-blow; she slumped back into her chair, silent. The brutality of that possibility had been bad enough, but the fact that the Fire Lord had described it so casually, as if it was considered completely normal for a father to be asked to kill their own son— even King Zhou in his darkest moods couldn't hold a candle to someone like Azulon.

Iroh seemed to read June's thoughts, and his eyes went from intense to sad.

"Now you understand, I hope," he said lowly, "why I can't simply kill Ozai without proof. I refuse to continue my father's legacy, June. The Fire Nation's history of violence must come to an end now, before the next generation is forced to pay the price for our mistakes."

"But if Ozai stays alive," the bounty hunter said pointedly, "he's going to try to kill you, even if you won't do the same to him. Are you just going to wait for him to knife you in your sleep, Sir?"

The Fire Lord was quiet for a few moments as he finished his cup of tea, and he didn't answer June until his cup was full again and he'd indulged himself in another measured sip.

"My brother is one of the most powerful Firebenders alive," Iroh said at last, "and one of the most brilliant Generals our army has ever seen. But he isn't invulnerable; no one is. Sooner or later, his own pride will be the death of him."

The gravity of what had started out as a casual conversation was beginning to be too much for June to bear, and she struggled to make sense of what angle the Fire Lord was playing.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" she pressed, feeling her neutrality slipping through her fingers with every passing second. "Aren't you worried that I—"

"That you'd betray me to my brother?" Iroh cut her off, before shaking his head. "Of course not; according to you, he tried to have you and Lu Ten killed, remember?"

"Then answer my question," June insisted doggedly, getting desperate for a straight answer. Iroh relented, settling back into his chair and sighing.

"Because my son trusts you, and cares more about keeping you safe than he does about his own life. If that didn't convince me that I could put my faith in you, June," the Fire Lord said seriously, "nothing would."

"And you're not worried about Ozai trying to kill Lu Ten again?"

"Not as long as you are here to look out for him, no," the Fire Lord answered, drinking from his cup again and looking quite pleased with himself.

Iroh held his silence after that, and the bounty hunter took her cue to leave. Rising to her feet, June had to fight to keep her legs from shaking slightly as she walked to the door and opened it. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She'd expected that her contact with Lu Ten would have ended after she'd tipped him off to the bounty on his head… but somehow, she'd let him talk her into coming back to the heart of the Fire Nation, right into the jaws of someone who'd tried to have them killed.

June decided right then and there that she owed Lu Ten a piece of her mind at the very least, and probably a solid smack or six besides. Pushing the fact that he'd risked everything to wrest her back from Senyaka's false execution out of her mind, the bounty hunter turned around and began to walk toward the Crown Prince's chambers.

Lady Ursa could wait.

* * *

"Here we are," Lu Ten said as he pushed open the door, Toph a few steps behind him. "These are your rooms. Sorry that my cousin hasn't gotten back here with the Avatar yet; you'll just have to find a way to kill some time until they show up."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Toph said with a smile as she moved past the crown prince and flopped down onto the large bed with a sigh, her smile widening.

"Now _this_ is the good stuff," she said. The Earthbender's sightless eyes began to drift closed in sleep, and Lu Ten had already made it back to the door and had begun to open it when the sound of Toph hissing in pain stopped him in his tracks. The crown prince looked back over his shoulder, concern in his eyes.

"You all right?"

"I'm fine," Toph said obstinately. She'd sat up, rolled her sleeve up and was probing gingerly at the clean dressings over her shoulder wound. "This thing's just being a pain. I'll get over it."

"Sure you don't want anything for it?"

"Yeah," the Earthbender assured the crown prince. "I don't like painkillers; they make my vision all fuzzy."

The mention of the word 'vision' coming from Toph gave Lu Ten pause, and the question that had been hovering in the back of his mind since the previous night surged forward again. He closed the door and turned around fully, grabbing a chair and sitting down. The crown prince watched carefully as the Earthbender followed the sound of his movements; so her other senses had compensated for her blindness. But that still didn't explain some of the other things Toph had been able to do that night, like tell exactly who had been approaching her right before everything had gone crazy.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Lu Ten said at last. "How can you 'see', exactly?"

Toph swung her legs over the side of the bed and pushed herself off, landing on the carpet that covered the stone floor immediately surrounding the bed. She took a step onto the uncovered floor and sighed in relief; Lu Ten saw that she wasn't wearing shoes.

"There we go," Toph said with a smile. "Back on solid ground. I can 'see' using my feet, as long as I'm standing on something made of earth," she explained. "I feel the vibrations that other things make nearby, and my Earthbending lets me see where they are and what they are. There's an ant on the floor next to you, for one."

Lu Ten looked down and was surprised to see a small black thing scuttling along the stone surface—the fact that a blind girl had sharper awareness than he did in the right environment was incredible.

"That's amazing," he said appreciatively, and Toph's smile widened.

"Yeah," she agreed, "it is. I can even use Earthbending to tell if you're lying or not; people can't keep their heart from pounding when they aren't telling the truth. Well," the Earthbender amended, her expression clouding, "a few people can. I couldn't get a read on your uncle at all earlier."

"You're not the only one," Lu Ten said ruefully, shaking his head. "Ozai's been lying and manipulating people for so long, I have to wonder if he even _can_ tell the truth anymore."

A thoughtful silence fell between the two of them, and it sat there for a few heartbeats before Toph broke it apart matter-of-factly.

"He really played us, didn't he?"

"Yeah."

"We walked right into that."

"Pretty much."

"You think he still wants to kill us?"

Lu Ten paused at that, considering if there were any limits to Ozai's bloodlust before shaking his head. His uncle was nothing if not pragmatic, after all.

"Kill you, no," the crown prince answered. "Kill me? Most definitely."

Toph waited for Lu Ten to continue— and when he didn't, the Earthbender arched a quizzical eyebrow.

"So what are you gonna do about it?" she prompted. "Don't tell me you think 'sit around and wait to get my ass handed to me' is a good way to handle this."

Lu Ten let himself chuckle for a moment, but soon enough his expression had become grim once again.

"There isn't much I can do about it, Toph," he said wearily. "Could I challenge Ozai to an Agni Kai? Sure, but he'd murder me. And we already saw where throwing around accusations without proof gets us—really, unless my uncle decides to burn down an orphanage in broad daylight, I don't think he'll wind up in a jail cell any time soon."

The Earthbender shrugged and got back up onto the bed, collapsing with a sigh before burrowing under the covers.

"It's your call," she said. "But you want my advice, the General's playing for keeps. You should be doing the same.

"Whatever you go with, though," Toph finished sleepily as the exhaustion of the past few days finally caught up to her, "I'll back you up."

Lu Ten smiled warmly at that, rising from his seat and moving over to the Earthbender's bedside. As he straightened out the covers and gently removed the hair-band from Toph's head so that it didn't wake her up in the middle of her nap, the crown prince was pulled back into his memories.

"_Mother says you're leaving on a trip."_

"_That's right; I'm going away for a while with my father. I could be gone for a few months… maybe even a year."_

_Azula's five-year-old face frowned up at him petulantly, and Lu Ten had to fight not to smile—he knew that would just make his cousin even more upset._

"_I don't want you to leave."_

"_Part of me doesn't want to go either," the crown prince replied, "but this is really, really important, Azula. If I don't go, your grandfather will get mad at me."_

_The idea of her grandfather getting angry was enough to convince the princess that she had to let her cousin go… but that didn't mean she had to like it._

"_Promise me you'll come back."_

_Ba Sing Se was supposed to be unconquerable, and Lu Ten hated making promises he couldn't be certain of keeping._

"_Azula…" _

"_Promise!"_

_The crown prince sighed, knowing he couldn't deny his cousin anything even though he hated himself for doing this._

"_I promise I'll come back," he said, and the smile that Azula gave him then almost made it worth the risk of breaking her heart. "Better?"_

_His cousin nodded, and Lu Ten reached down to ruffle her hair affectionately. The princess frowned again, but she couldn't keep the corners of her mouth from betraying her as they quirked upwards. Lu Ten knew he was the only person who ever saw Azula smile, and he treasured each time it happened._

"_I love you," he said in parting a few moments later, but Azula had already fallen asleep. His mouth curved into a melancholy smile, and the crown prince left his cousin behind him as he walked out of the room._

_With any luck, he would be able to keep his promise._

Lu Ten blinked and snapped himself back to the present, the memory faded away completely. Azula had changed in the year it took to bring down Ba Sing Se, and the crown prince had no doubts at all that it had been because of her father.

Shaking his head and sighing, Lu Ten walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He moved quickly to the end of the hall, turned the corner—

And almost ran right into his uncle.

"General," he said smoothly, taking a step back and nodding. Ozai smiled imperiously, returning the gesture of respect even as his eyes glinted hard with scorn.

"Crown Prince," he replied. "I hope you're recovering from that unfortunate ambush?"

"Quite well, yes," Lu Ten answered acidly, smiling through his anger. "It's a minor miracle that we even survived an attack by the Yu Yan, not to mention that our injuries were so slight."

"Indeed so," Ozai said, the crown prince's taunt bringing a vicious smile to his face. "Luck was on your side, nephew. We can only hope that it remains there— it's such a fickle thing, after all."

The crown prince opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of someone approaching from down the hall cut him off. Looking over, Lu Ten saw June and felt a wave of relief pass through him. The bounty hunter almost smiled, but her expression turned taut and tense when she recognized Ozai as the general turned to face her as well.

"What a pleasant surprise," Ozai said with feigned courtesy that made June's skin crawl. "Finally, I get to properly meet one of the most famous bounty hunters in all of the Four Nations."

"That's not a hard title to earn," she said evenly. "You just have to outlive all your competition."

The general chuckled at that, and June could plainly see why Iroh was so convinced that his brother's pride would be his downfall. She just hoped the Fire Lord's instincts were correct.

"Your knack for that seems only to be rivaled by my nephew's," Ozai said at last, before turning around and beginning to walk away without so much as a word of farewell. Once the general was out of sight, June let her mouth twist into a snarl.

"I want to kill him so badly," she seethed. "Are you sure your father would put me in jail for it?"

"Well, you're not technically a member of the Fire Nation, so he couldn't banish you," Lu Ten said. "And I don't think he'd execute you, so yeah; you'd probably spend the next few decades in a dark, dank cell."

June's eyes narrowed.

"It'd be worth it."

The crown prince gave a short laugh at that, before his eyes became serious again.

"Speaking of my father," he said, resuming the walk back to his room as June fell into step beside him, "how was tea?"

"Not what I expected," the bounty hunter replied. "He wasn't worried at all about the fact that we almost got killed. Does he have some secret plan that I just don't know about?"

Lu Ten shook his head.

"None that he's told me about. But I wouldn't put it past my father to play something like this really close to his chest, either."

The two of them left each other to their thoughts as they walked through the halls of the palace, until the knotted feeling in June's stomach returned with a vengeance as she remembered what Iroh had told her. By the time the bounty hunter had decided on the best way to phrase what she was going to ask the crown prince, they had stopped in front of the large door that marked the entrance to Lu Ten's room.

"So," June said as calmly as she could while Lu Ten pushed the iron barrier open, "what am I to you, exactly?"

The loaded question caught the crown prince completely off-guard, and he froze for a few long heartbeats before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. Pushing the door open the rest of the way, Lu Ten tried to come up with some kind of adequate response and failed completely.

"Where did that come from?"

"Your father told me what kind of risk you were taking when you let me leave your camp alive," June elaborated as she walked into the room, moving over to the large bed and sitting down on the edge of it. "And not just that; you broke _into_ Ba Sing Se to bail me out afterward. The way I see it, either you really want to get yourself executed by a military tribunal, or there's something you're not telling me."

Lu Ten walked over and sat down next to the bounty hunter, his amber eyes clouded as he tried to think of a way to simplify all of the emotions that June's question had sent rampaging through him.

"Why did you become a bounty hunter?"

June frowned, her gray eyes narrowing in frustration at the unexpected question.

"No," she said firmly. "We're not playing this little game again, Lu Ten. Answer my question, or I'm gone."

The crown prince looked over at her and smiled sadly, his expression unreadable.

"You just answered your own question, June," he told her. "How can you expect me to be honest with you when your first instinct is to run from anything that makes you uncomfortable?"

The bounty hunter stared at him.

"That's not even close to true, and you know it," she hissed lowly. Lu Ten's gaze hardened, and his smile turned ever so slightly bitter.

"Isn't it?" he countered. "When I woke up the morning after we'd dealt with the Red Vipers, you were long gone."

"Don't even try to put this on me," June said, her anger mounting even higher. "What was I supposed to do, stay in a camp full of people who wanted me dead? I'm not crazy."

"I could have kept you safe."

The bounty hunter heard the hurt in the crown prince's voice, but she pushed past it. If Lu Ten really wanted the truth, the truth was what he'd get.

"From the rest of the army, maybe," she allowed, "but not from Azulon. How did you think it was going to end? If we'd broken the Siege, you would have been a traitor. When the Siege was successful, I had to run for my life. And even if Long Feng hadn't been trying to kill me at the time, I would've been running from the Fire Nation soldiers who were busy sacking Ba Sing Se.

"Here's what I really want to know," June finished, her anger cresting at last. "If you were so worried about me running away, why didn't you just take me prisoner? Why let me go to begin with?"

Lu Ten sighed, feeling the weight of June's justified frustration laying heavy on his shoulders. Of all the things to screw up in life, he just had to pick this.

"Because I was young and stupid," he said at last. "Because I was foolish enough to think that you'd come back if I let you go. Because you were my first, and you were so perfect I didn't see the point of going after anyone else… but I wasn't about to force you to stay, either."

The confession drained the crown prince of what little energy he still had, and he fell back onto the bed with a sigh.

"Does that answer your question, June?"

For the first time since her conversation with the Fire Lord, the bounty hunter was at a loss for words. Even considering the question she'd asked, June hadn't been expecting a response that open and emotional from Lu Ten. It was almost enough to make her forgive him for being such a tight-lipped idiot, but there was something that still didn't make sense to her.

"Even if everything had worked out," she said slowly as she reached down and pulled the pin out of the crown prince's headpiece before taking it off completely, "even if, by some miracle, Azulon let me live, what would you have done? You couldn't have married me."

"Why not?"

The question took June aback, both because of what it implied and because it made no sense.

"Because even if you weren't the Crown Prince back then, you were still in line for the throne. If you'd married some nobody from the Earth Kingdom, what would all the other nobles have thought?"

Lu Ten looked up at June as she shifted her attention back to him, having placed the headpiece on a small nearby table. His eyes were bright with laughter, and his mouth was curved into the same subversive grin he'd worn on that night all those years ago.

"What makes you think I've ever cared what those creaky old men think of me?" he said simply. "If you'd said yes, I would've married you in a heartbeat."

June arched an eyebrow at that.

"Even though I tried to murder you."

Lu Ten rolled his eyes.

"That was one time," he equivocated. "Besides, we were at war. It happens. You don't still want to murder me, do you?"

Now it was June's turn to shrug.

"Not all the time, no," she said lowly as she moved over, positioning herself above Lu Ten and smiling. "Just some of the time."

"Good enough for me," the crown prince said with a matching smile, reaching up and pulling the bounty hunter down by her shoulders into a kiss. When they broke apart, June's eyes were glinting in a way that sent a light shiver up Lu Ten's spine.

"What is it?" he asked, not even sure he wanted to know what she was thinking.

"Was I really your first?" June asked, her tone teasing. The crown prince just barely fought the heat away from his cheeks in time.

"Yes, you were," he said, trying to play it cool and failing miserably. "Does that matter?"

"No," the bounty hunter said blithely. "It's just adorable."

"I knew I shouldn't have told you that," Lu Ten groused. "So stupid."

"Yeah," June agreed, "but I do appreciate that you felt comfortable letting me in on that secret, kid." She kissed him again, and Lu Ten could feel her holding back a chuckle.

"Don't call me that."

Another kiss.

"What, 'kid'?"

"Seriously; not okay."

She kissed him again, and Lu Ten felt his furrowed eyebrows relaxing despite himself while a pair of deft hands removed his formal tunic.

"I think it's cute."

"Stop it."

June's skull-ornament hair-band had come off at some point, leaving her long dark hair to fall in a curtain over her face. But her eyes were still visible, and the sultriness in them was unmistakable.

"Make me."

Lu Ten repressed another shiver at the sound of her voice just long enough to reach one of his hands around to her back and channel a controlled point of heat into the tip of his forefinger. He trailed it down the length of her spine, and the sound of singeing fabric followed close behind it. June realized what was happening scant heartbeats before Lu Ten had finished, and her eyes widened.

"That's cheating," she said, and the crown prince grinned up at her deviously.

"I wasn't aware there were rules for this sort of thing, sweetheart."

June's flash of indignation at the nickname was the only opening Lu Ten needed, and he quickly moved to reverse their positions. This time it was June's turn to pull her partner down to her, and the pair said nothing else coherent for quite some time.

* * *

Hanzo woke up feeling like someone had replaced his brain with balls of cotton and his tongue with a piece of cracked leather.

"Ugh."

He felt a cup of water being pressed to his lips a moment later, and with each sip the bastard prince felt his awareness beginning to return to him.

"The patient is awake, Princess."

"Yes, I can see that," Azula's sharp voice cut through the haze clouding Hanzo's head. "You can leave now. And you remember what we discussed about your involvement in this, I trust?"

The nurse didn't miss a beat.

"What involvement, Princess?"

Azula nodded.

"Good. Now get out."

There was a shuffling sound and the door to the room slid open, before closing again a moment later. By the time Hanzo's vision had cleared completely, he and the princess were alone. He didn't recognize the room, but the bastard prince assumed that wherever they were, it was somewhere very secluded and completely private.

"How're you feeling?"

Hanzo tried to laugh, but it came out as little more than a thin, raspy chuckle.

"That's a good one, Azula. You're hilarious."

"Well, excuse me for being concerned," the princess shot back, angered that her newest pawn had the nerve to be cheeky. "I didn't have to bring you here, you know."

"And I do appreciate that," Hanzo said tiredly, "really. But I feel like I just got run over by a saber-tooth moose-lion—forgive me if I'm not at my most polite right now."

Azula rose from her seat without another word, moving over to the chair by Hanzo's bedside and sitting down again. She reached over and prodded at the wrappings surrounding the bastard prince's burn wound, and grimaced when the off-white cloth dampened and became tinged with light gray.

"I'm guessing that's not good?" Hanzo volunteered, and Azula looked up at him with thinly-veiled annoyance.

"Hilarious," she echoed dryly. "It looks like the nurse forgot to change this dressing out before she left."

"Before you ordered her to leave, you mean?"

The princess's annoyance became plain on her face, and she busied herself with unwinding the bandage in order to curb the aggression that was threatening to boil over within her. As long as Hanzo was still of use to her, she couldn't kill him.

No matter how appealing he made it seem.

The burn appeared to be healing as expected; as long as it was looked after for the next few days, it wouldn't get infected. Which meant, however, that someone had to change the dressing regularly— and since Azula, in her great foresight, had broken Hanzo's other wrist, he couldn't do it himself.

So for now, the princess thought bitterly as she cleaned the injury and began to wrap it up in fresh cloth, she would have to lower herself to this base duty and bear the indignation that came with it. Azula knew that she would have plenty of time to exact payment for her assistance once the bastard prince had returned to full health, and she could wait until then to collect what she was owed.

"You mentioned something earlier," Hanzo spoke into the silence as Azula finished up treating the wound and sat back down, "about 'taking down your father'. How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

The princess sat back in her chair and regarded her minion coolly, reminding herself that she still held all of the power in this situation. And Azula was going to make sure that Hanzo knew it, too.

"Before I tell you," she said, "I want you to swear to me that you will follow any and all orders I give you to the letter, ask no questions and never give me cause to regret trusting you."

The bastard prince sighed, too weary to argue but still failing to see the point in a show of fealty.

"Didn't we already establish that I'm in your pocket, Azula?" he countered. "What do you want me to do, dance around on command for you like a trained monkey?"

The princess thought about that image and found it amusing enough to file away for later, but now wasn't the time for games.

"I want," Azula reiterated, "to hear you say that your loyalty is to me now, and not to my mother. If this plan of mine is going to work, no one but us can know about it."

"Fair enough," Hanzo conceded, his dark green eyes regaining some of their keenness. "I swear to you that my loyalties no longer rest with your mother, Azula. If you're ever given cause to doubt that, feel free to try and kill me."

The princess arched an eyebrow.

"'Try'?" she repeated, sounding offended. "Bravado only works if you can back it up, Hanzo. We both know what happens when you try to fight me."

The bastard prince gave a casual shrug, and Azula was struck with the sudden, instinctive feeling that he was still hiding something from her. Something important. Something she would definitely have to ferret out later, when there was time for such things.

But for now, there was no time to waste. The princess told the bastard prince her plan, from the beginning to the end, and exactly how she hoped to accomplish it.

When she was finished, the look on Hanzo's face was a mingled gaze of admiration, anticipation, resolve and more than a little bit of shock.

"You do realize, I hope," he said calmly at last, "what will happen to us if we get caught."

"Which we won't."

"Even if we don't," Hanzo persisted, sitting up straight in his bed, "Your uncle and cousin will have their suspicions."

"And we'll have the perfect alibi," Azula countered, unwavering. "As long as we each do our parts, there's no way this could p—"

"Whatever you do," the bastard prince cut her off, "don't finish that thought." The princess realized what she'd been about to say and clammed up, while Hanzo sighed again. "Are you absolutely sure," he said seriously, staring Azula in the eyes, "that you won't regret this?"

"Positive," the princess answered, returning the gaze with equal intensity. "Now, are you with me or not?"

Hanzo smiled.

"Just because I'm curious," he asked, "if I said 'no', would you kill me now, or wait until I'd fallen back to sleep?"

Azula returned the smile, black humor glinting in her amber eyes.

"I'd wait," she said. "Less thrashing around that way."

"I appreciate your consideration," the bastard prince said wryly, "But regardless; sure, I'm with you. I owe your father for this damn burn, to say the very least," Hanzo finished, jerking his injured arm up briefly before letting it fall again.

"And what, pray tell," the princess asked pointedly, "do you plan on exacting for your wrist?"

Hanzo smiled at the question, his eyes dark and unreadable. He began to say something, but it was too quiet for Azula to understand. She leaned forward in her chair reflexively, hoping to catch the rest of it—

And he pounced. Before the princess could spring back, the bastard prince had lunged forward, placed his one good hand behind her head and pulled her into a kiss. It was light, sly and cocky, with just a hint of warmth, and over shortly after it had begun. Hanzo pulled back and rested his head against his pillow, a triumphant look in his eyes.

"I'd say that about makes us even, Princess," he said with a smile. Azula, for her part, was speechless.

That had been her first kiss.

This boy had just stolen her first kiss.

The boy who had sworn to obey each and every one of her orders to the letter.

_Oh,_ the princess thought to herself as she sprang to her feet and walked quickly out of the room, _I am going to make you pay for that, Hanzo. And I'm going to enjoy every moment of it._

* * *

For having a reputation as being one of the greatest cities in all of the Four Nations, Mai couldn't help but find Ba Sing Se to be unbelievably boring. Maybe it was the fact that having an honor guard follow her and her family around everywhere they went made it impossible to actually _do_ anything; maybe it was the fact that none of the regular people seemed to want to come within fifty feet of them at any given moment; or maybe it was the fact that she was constantly told to stay inside whenever her father wasn't taking the rest of the family along to one business meeting or another.

Truth be told, it was probably all of the above. And it was this stifling boredom that had pushed Mai to get out of bed in the middle of the night, sneak past the small group of Dai Li guards that stood vigil over her family's rented lodgings and slip out into the welcoming, moonlit embrace of the Earth Kingdom capital's upper ring.

It was like walking into a completely different city; the streets were lined on either side with shops, restaurants and bars, vendors peddling their wares on the sidewalks and the occasional hobbled beggar soliciting passersby for a spare coin or two. Mai gave one of them a gold piece just to see the look on their face; normally she would have been repulsed by the sight of such lowlifes, but right now she was just relieved to be around people who didn't seem terrified of her.

It took Mai three more stretches of brightly lantern-lit buildings before she passed on to an unlit stretch and noticed that she was being followed.

Having an honor guard of Dai Li around her for the whole stay had clearly made her sloppy; she knew she should have been able to spot tails this obvious after just one block, if not less. Oh, well; at least it gave her something to do. There were only six of the idiots anyway—even if she'd botched recognizing them, her eyes and knives were still as sharp as ever.

"I'm only saying this because I'm in a good mood," Mai spoke up evenly, "and I'm only going to say it once: just give it up and leave, and I won't make you limp home."

The six muggers chuckled as a group, slinking out of the shadows when Mai turned to look behind her. Their confident looks and postures told the knife-wielding girl that they expected to turn her pockets out without any real struggle… which meant that the element of surprise was still firmly in her corner.

"Little girly's got a mouth on her, sounds like," one of the muggers said jeeringly, the blade of his long skinning knife and the pale color of his faded gold tooth shining in the moonlight. "Shame a mouth can't cut, or we'd all be in some serious trouble, right bo—_gah!_"

The mugger was cut off mid-word as a knife buried itself in his hand, and the fight was already over. Mai didn't waste any time in slinging a few more blades and bringing the rest of the thugs to their knees in pain, each of them clutching some wounded extremity that was now sporting a shiny, cold piece of metal sticking out of it.

"I warned you," the girl said levelly, walking back toward the well-lit blocks of the city. "It's not my fault you were all idiots who didn't listen."

"Not bad, kid," a new voice broke in over the sound of the injured, whimpering would-be muggers. "Not bad at all."

Mai spun back around to face the darkness, drawing _shuriken_ to her hands in the blink of an eye and staring hard into the shadows, trying to get a look at the speaker… until the cool, curved steel of a hooksword slid over from her right and stopped with the inner curve resting against Mai's neck. The girl was unmoved at having been outflanked, and even went as far as to sigh in annoyance.

"Are you going to kill me, or just keep wasting my time?"

Silence held for a long moment, before the speaker broke out laughing and the sword dropped from its place at Mai's neck.

"No, I'm not gonna kill you," the speaker said easily, before something hard and cold slammed into the knife-wielding girl's hands and held them together. Looking down, Mai saw that they were encased in black, molded rock.

"That's not how the Dai Li deal with people they're supposed to be protecting, after all."

Satisfied that she wasn't going to try and stab him in the face now, the mysterious speaker stepped out of the darkness and into the moonlight, flanked by two uniformed members of the Dai Li. He was a young man no older than Mai, carrying a pair of hookswords and chewing absently on a shortened stalk of wheat that protruded from his mouth like some long, spindly tooth.

"You're not supposed to be wandering the streets alone, kid," he continued easily. "And especially not after dark. Makes us look bad if we're not doin' our jobs, and I'd rather not look bad to Long Feng."

"So what?" Mai pressed, exasperated. "I don't care if your boss gives you a raise or not; I'm sick of not being able to d—"

She was cut off mid-word by a hard hand chopping the back of her neck, and Mai crumpled to the ground unconscious as a third Dai Li agent emerged from behind her.

"Blah, blah, blah," Jet said dryly, re-sheathing his weapons as he turned to face the Dai Li. "Could you believe that chick? 'I don't care if your boss gives you a raise or not?' Really? Does she even know who Long Feng is?"

"What do you want us to do with her, Sir?" one of the agents asked stoically, clearly in no mood for small-talk. "Should we hold her for a day on a misdemeanor?"

Jet thought about it, but decided against it in the end.

"Nah," he said, "just take her back home and let her parents deal with her. And make these low-lifes disappear while you're at it; I need a drink."

The Dai Li agents shared a weary glance, but Jet didn't concern himself with their opinion of him. As the trio left, one carrying Mai along behind him while the other two set about murdering the wounded thugs with chilling detachment and efficiency, Jet's expression turned from apathetic to downright hateful.

"As soon as old man Senyaka gives me the go-ahead," he said lowly as he turned and began to walk toward the nearest bar, "I'm gonna kill every single one of you." A thought occurred to Jet just then, and he grinned maliciously.

"And I bet that girl would be more than happy to help me out, too."

* * *

…

…

**A/N:** And once more, I go on for longer than I'd anticipated. At least I can blame it on someone new this time; on the other hand, June and Lu Ten deserved some fluff of their own, so whatever. I'll forgive them, this once. Also: oh Hanzo, you really have no idea what that stunt's going to cost you. Poor kid. And way to be classy for the ladies, Jet. That'll get you far in life.

Before I get to thanking the new reviewers from this past week, I need to send an extra-special thank-you out to **Masayume85**, who looked over those first two scenes for me. First time I've had a beta-influence all story, and it was a welcome change of pace. You should go read her story **_Stand in the Rain _**asap: it's a really solid, thoughtful character study of Katara (and Zuko to an extent) that expands upon the end of 'The Southern Raiders'. Great read, that one. Heck of a debut, for that matter.

Okay, time for the new reviewer thank-yous! This week, we have **b lahmaka**, **AnnaAza**, **Midoriori** (who went the extra mile by reviewing almost every single chapter... props), and last but certainly not least, the aforementioned and awesome **Masayume85**. Thank you all; glad you decided to take the plunge! Also, again, thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave thoughtful and encouraging feedback... it makes all the difference in the world when it comes to keeping me writing, rather than doing all of the other stuff I have up in the air.

So, does that mean it's teaser time? I guess it does. Next week, Chan and Yon Rha continue being generally horrible people, Ozai schemes and plots, finally calling in the trump cards Long Feng sent him and Hanzo realizes what an enormous mistake he made by pissing off Azula. Also, there'll probably some Zutara in there for good measure; I realize it's been a while since we had some (a whole chapter; scandalous!), and I'm feeling withdrawal pangs. So I'll see if I can fit it in.

Thanks again for continuing to follow this story along, and I hope to see you next week!

**- Jazz**


	14. Baci

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 14: **Baci

* * *

Ozai continued on through the halls of the palace, the wheels turning furiously behind his eyes even as his outward expression remained smooth as a block of ice. It was abundantly clear to the general that both Lu Ten and his erstwhile ally would have already tried to kill him if they thought they could get away with it; for all of their experience, they were still terrible at masking their true thoughts from someone with as keen an eye as the Fire Lord's brother.

His mouth turned down into a frown as Ozai was forced to once again face the fact that his ineffectual sibling was sitting on the throne that should have been his, but the spike of anger passed almost as soon as it had come. Soon enough, the general reminded himself, he would be the one taking up his father and grandfather's legacy and restoring the Fire Nation to its rightful place of power and glory.

Very soon, indeed; Ozai knew that every moment he waited to rid himself of Lu Ten was one more moment that the crown prince had to prepare, and the general wasn't about to take any chances with his nuisance of a nephew.

Which was why Ozai was about to finally draw the last hidden weapon he possessed out into the open: a gift from the Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, to help them achieve their mutual goal with the maximum amount of expediency. A cell of conditioned sleeper agents, highly-trained, highly-motivated and, once activated, utterly without the capacity for disobedience. Even someone as powerful as Lu Ten would have a very hard time dealing with such a group, and Ozai had something in mind to make sure that even a Dragon would fall before them in defeat.

Making his way to the small smithy that handled repairs for the everyday mechanical devices the palace's residents owned, the general opened the door and entered without any of the usual ceremony. The effect of his sudden arrival was felt instantaneously; both of the workers who were on duty at the time went rigid as planks of wood, before recovering themselves and snapping into the best approximations of a formal salute that they could manage.

"General Ozai, Sir," the man he had come to see spoke up after a tense moment. "This is an unexpected privilege. What can we do for you?"

"You," Ozai said, gesturing dismissively to the other man, "can leave us. I have something I must discuss with your colleague."

"Of course, my Lord," the second blacksmith said hastily, before turning sharply and all but scurrying to the door that led into the smithy's supply room. Once he was sure no one would interrupt them, Ozai turned to face the clearly nervous blacksmith and smiled.

"The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai," he said simply, before watching the heavy-set, muscular man's brown eyes glaze over in recognition of the code-phrase.

"I am honored to accept his invitation," the blacksmith intoned flatly. "What are my Lord's orders?"

Ozai's smile widened.

"You remember whom the other members of your group are, yes?"

The other man nodded once.

"Of course."

"Good. Find them, and wake each of them up as I have you. I expect it to be done by the end of the day today, if not sooner. Once that has been taken care of, resume your duties here and await further orders."

The blacksmith nodded again.

"I hear and obey, my Lord."

Ozai snapped his fingers once, breaking the trance. The blacksmith blinked, and when his eyes re-focused they were possessed by a singular intensity. He walked out of the smithy without another word, and the general waited a few moments before leaving as well. Now all he had to do was use Xian as his gopher for one last task, and then—

"Good day, father."

Ozai pulled himself out of his thoughts with a quick blink, and was mildly surprised to see the person he'd just been about to think of standing right in front of him.

"Azula," he greeted his daughter smoothly. "Where were you earlier? I expected to see you at the council meeting concerning the problem of the Northern Water Tribe." Ozai's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, and the change in his expression was not lost on Azula. "Perhaps you caught wind of your cousin's safe return before the rest of us, and were busy greeting him?"

"Lu Ten is alive?" the princess replied after making sure they wouldn't be overheard, inwardly thankful that her genuine surprise at her cousin's condition masked her relief that her father hadn't just asked her where she'd been, rather than making a false assumption on top of that. "I thought you said you'd taken care of him, father."

"And I thought I'd taught _you_ to have at least a modicum of discretion," Ozai countered, his smooth voice turning acidic. "Now come with me, and keep your mouth shut until I say you may open it again. I have something I want you to do for me."

The general kept on walking back towards his chambers, and Azula fell in step behind him without another word. Her mouth turned down in to a hard frown and her eyes smoldered with anger at her father's rebuke, but she knew better than to challenge him openly right now. The princess focused her thoughts on Lu Ten's survival of Ozai's ambush instead, feeling her temper sink back under control. Just a day ago, the news might have struck her as an unfortunate complication… now, however, Azula couldn't have been happier to hear that her cousin had avoided meeting his fate.

In the end, one more piece on the board would make it that much easier to bring down her father—and especially if that piece was one as powerful as Lu Ten.

Now, the only thing that remained to be settled was making sure that Hanzo knew where he stood in their relationship. His delusions of equality would make him unpredictable, and that was something Azula couldn't risk. That kiss he'd stolen from her earlier had been proof enough of that…

"Azula? Have you gone completely addle-brained? Sit down."

Her father's harsh words jolted the princess away from her rumination, just in time for her to realize that her body was beginning to betray her: a dim warmth was coiling in her stomach. She squashed it without hesitation, inwardly cursing the day she met Hanzo as she sank down into the chair across from her father. She'd thought her experience with Chan had been the end of this sort of thing—so what was wrong with her now?

"As I said," Ozai continued, eyeing his daughter from across the table with the kind of stern look he usually reserved for his other child, "I have something I want you to do for me."

"Of course, father," Azula replied, with a feigned approximation of her usual deference. She saw the general's eyebrows furrow the slightest bit, and pressed on before he could speak. "What do you require?"

"I am setting something in motion that will correct the Yu Yan's blunder in the Earth Kingdom," Ozai said calmly, "but I still don't entirely trust Long Feng's agents. So I need you to make sure that the task I have set up for them goes smoothly."

The princess nodded, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"And?" she prompted after a tense moment, drawing a cold smile from her father.

"You won't be doing this alone," he explained. "You are to meet up with one of my own messengers, the crippled librarian Xian. The two of you will round up the disparate agents, and then you will use them to carry out an assassination attempt on our most beloved Crown Prince," Ozai continued, the bitterness in his voice plain as day. "Afterward, I expect you to kill any of the agents that are left alive, including Xian. No one but you and I must know of this, Azula."

The orders hit the princess like a punch to the gut, and she was immensely grateful that the chair she was sitting in kept her from reeling backwards. This threatened to completely upend her entire plan, not to mention deprive her of two of her most important assets in a single swoop. Azula knew that she had to find some way around this, and quickly, or her revenge would become little more than a whimsical figment of her imagination.

"Well?" Ozai prompted into her silence, his tone impatient. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Azula nodded quickly, hoping against hope that none of her internal turmoil had shown through on her face.

"I will do as you command, father," she said evenly, nodding. "I won't fail you."

"Take care that you don't," the general told his daughter coldly. "I have no use for faulty tools."

It took all of the princess's considerable composure to keep from reacting to the taunt; Azula knew now that her father was trying to get a rise out of her, to see if what Hanzo had told him earlier about her shifting loyalty was true. She bit back her rage and nodded again.

"I wouldn't expect you to," she said, before rising to her feet. "If you will excuse me, I'll go find this 'Xian' you spoke of," the princess finished, before bowing, turning and walking out the door.

After she was gone, Ozai's mouth split into a cruel smile, his amber eyes alight with malice. It was abundantly clear to him now that his daughter could no longer be counted on; she'd gone from being his most promising weapon to a failure even more disappointing than Zuko.

Hopefully, when he sent instructions to Xian to eliminate Azula following the completion of their assassination attempt on Lu Ten, the two of them would just kill each other and bring this farce to an end.

* * *

"You," Lu Ten breathed as he stared listlessly up at the ceiling, "are absolutely amazing."

June gave a light, amused chuckle as she reached over and let her hand trail along the crown prince's chest, before letting it come to rest on his abdomen.

"You're not bad yourself," she said, a smile in her eyes that her muscles were too tired to mirror on her lips. "A little more practice, and you might be able to keep up with me one of these times."

"Ouch," Lu Ten said with a smile, turning his head to face the bounty hunter. "So I take it I was imagining all of those fascinating sounds you were making earlier, then?"

June was silent at that, and the crown prince marked up one small victory in the back of his mind. The pair settled into a companionable quiet that Lu Ten found quite comforting; as soon as he felt June's hand tense against his muscles, though, he knew their brief moment of contentment was about to end.

"So," the bounty hunter said at last, "what happens now?"

The crown prince picked up on a slight twinge in her voice, and he frowned.

"It sounds to me like you've already written my answer off, June."

"Well," she said nonchalantly as she arched her back, stretching in a way Lu Ten found to be highly distracting, "I know exactly what you're going to say, and I know it's going to be stupid. So why wouldn't I write it off?"

"Then why'd you even ask?"

The bounty hunter smiled.

"I just wanted to make sure I was right. You wanna bet on it?"

The crown prince gave an exasperated sigh, still too exhausted for verbal sparring.

"Unbelievable," he muttered with a weak smile to take the sting out of the word, before his expression became serious again. "You need to get out of the Fire Nation, June."

"I _knew_ I should have made you take that bet," June said, rolling over onto her side to face Lu Ten and moving her hand up to rest against his cheek. "Listen, kid—"

"Stop calling me that."

"— I know you love being the storybook hero and all," she continued like she'd never been interrupted, "but this isn't something you can take on your own. And I'm definitely not going to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. You think Ba Sing Se would be any safer for me than here? At least I can watch your back for you if I hang around."

Lu Ten arched an eyebrow in confusion.

"Who said anything about Ba Sing Se?"

June shrugged.

"You didn't, but I know Ursa is going to," she explained. "If what Senyaka told us is true, she's waiting for the right moment to make a move against Long Feng. And who better to send over as an agent than someone who used to be near the right hand of the Earth King?"

The crown prince meditated on the question for a few moments, but in the end his stance on the matter didn't change.

"As long as Long Feng is alive," Lu Ten said, "he's a threat to us. And if Jet is waiting for word from Senyaka to act, he's going to be waiting until someone tells him the old man is dead. I'd say we could send a message instead of sending an agent, but—"

"If it fell into the wrong hands, Jet's cover would be blown, he'd be killed and we'd never get another shot at this," June finished for him, before looking back up at the ceiling and sighing. "You're right, I'll admit it."

"Hey, I'm no happier about this than you are," the crown prince insisted, "but this way you get away from Ozai, and you get a chance to take out Long Feng at the same time. It's the best possible approach."

June groaned and rolled her way to the edge of the bed before swinging her legs over and getting up, doing one more final stretch before turning her attention to the task of gathering up her scattered clothing. Lu Ten saw what she was doing and smiled, remembering what had happened to the top she'd been wearing earlier.

"You can just wear some of mine, if that would be easier," he said, unable to completely keep the smile out of his voice. June gave him a wry smile.

"In your dreams," she countered as she stepped back into her still-intact pair of black pants, before coming to the unfortunate realization that the other half of her uniform had been cut in half by a certain overeager Firebender. Shooting Lu Ten a scathing glare as it became the crown prince's turn to smile, the bounty hunter swallowed some of her pride.

"Give me one of your shirts," she said shortly. "I'll consider it payment for that worthless scrap of clothing sitting in the corner over there."

"As my lady commands," Lu Ten replied, his smile not wavering in the slightest as he got out of bed and padded over to his closet and chest of drawers. Opening the second draw from the top, he pulled out a burgundy tunic and tossed it to June, followed by a pair of pants for himself. She caught the tunic and put it on, but as she turned towards the small table where her skull hairband was resting, June was stopped by the gentle-but-insistent pressure of a hand around her wrist.

"What—?" she started to say, before the crown prince cut her off with a kiss. It was far gentler than any he'd shared with her in the past hour, and underpinned with a strange mix of emotion and need that June found to be as magnetic as it was disconcerting. She was drawn to what it implied, but at the same time she was saddened by what else it meant. Letting herself sink into the embrace, she flowed along until they broke apart, feeling a slight chill brush over her in the absence of Lu Ten's warmth.

"June? Are you all right?"

The bounty hunter blinked, and the crown prince could see a note of pain buried beneath her layers of indifference.

"This is goodbye," she said, "isn't it?"

Lu Ten smiled sadly, drawing June back into another embrace and resting his head against her shoulder.

"I guess it is, sweetheart," he said softly. "But I'll be fine, I promise. You worry about coming back safe, and I'll be here waiting for you."

The bounty hunter sighed against the crown prince as she felt the last of her resistance draining away; letting go of the freedom that being a freelancer gave her was a heavy sacrifice to make—but if the tradeoff was being able to be with someone who, for once in her life, actually valued who she was, it was a trade that June was more than willing to make.

"You'd better be," she replied, tightening her grip before releasing it altogether and taking a step back. "I've been burned too many times now to have it happen again, kid."

Lu Ten's smile turned from sad to genuine.

"I'm not like those sexist idiots who run the Earth Kingdom's army," he assured her. "I actually like having a partner around who can go toe-to-toe with me. Keeps things interesting."

June smiled in kind, relieved that she'd put her faith in someone who would actually cherish it.

"Right back at you," she said, before turning and walking toward the door.

"You forgot your…" Lu Ten called after her, glancing at the skull hairband still sitting by his bed.

"Just give it to me when I get back," June's reply came floating back into the room behind her, and the crown prince smiled wide.

* * *

The sun was beginning to dip down from its zenith when Zuko and Katara made their way back to the village, and this time hardly anyone spared the pair a second look. The prince took that as a good sign that he was beginning to be accepted by the Southern Tribe as a whole, and no longer viewed as an outsider from the Fire Nation. Zuko noticed then that the cold in the air didn't bother him nearly as much as it had a few days ago; he was probably carrying himself more like a Water Tribesman than a citizen of the Fire Nation, without even realizing it.

The thought of what the look on his father's face would be if he could see his son now made Zuko laugh out loud, drawing a puzzled look from Katara.

"What's so funny?" she asked him, and the prince just shook his head.

"Nothing," he demurred. "I was just thinking about how different this place feels."

"Different how?" the Waterbender pressed, a light note of concern in her voice that didn't pass by the Firebender unmarked. "Good different, or bad different?"

"Definitely good different," Zuko reassured her, smiling. "It doesn't feel like home yet, but it's getting there." His smile widened. "The company certainly helps."

"Flattery gets you nowhere, Prince," Katara teased him, her eyes glinting with humor. "You'll have to try harder than that."

Zuko was about to say something else when the Waterbender gave a big yawn, blinking twice and shivering slightly once it had passed.

"I'm beat," Katara said at last, as the pair finally arrived at the door of their house and entered. "That spar of ours must've taken a lot more out of me than I thought; I'm gonna go take a nap. Thanks for the Firebending tips, _sifu_," she finished, leaning up slightly and giving Zuko a peck on the cheek before heading toward her room. There was a slight spring still lingering in Katara's stride despite her fatigue, and The prince gave a small smile as he watched the Waterbender go. He was just about to follow in her footsteps and grab some shut-eye when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Well, aren't the two of you just precious."

Its tone reminded Zuko of Katara's voice to an almost eerie degree, except it was older and layered with the gentle humor that only mothers teasing their children seemed to possess.

"I'm glad you think so, Lady Kya," the prince said as Kya stepped out of the shadows at the far side of the room and made her way over to the stove, smiling the whole way.

"Just call me Kya," she told him as she busied herself preparing a pot of seal-tea. "I'd say we're past formalities at this point, wouldn't you? Have a seat; make yourself comfortable. I'd like for us to talk, if you wouldn't mind."

The prince clearly heard the shift in Kya's tone when she mentioned a 'talk', and it didn't take long at all for Zuko to figure out where this was going. But he wasn't worried about Katara's mother when it came to being accepted by her parents; her father was a much imposing presence.

"Of course," he said with a short nod, sitting down at the main table and sighing in relief as his legs eased up completely and he felt the stress in his muscles ebbing away. "I don't mind at all, my L—Kya."

Kya snickered at the switch, looking up from the pot and smiling over at Zuko.

"Your mother really drilled those manners into your head, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did," the prince answered, finally letting himself relax. "Did you two get to know each other well, when my uncle came down here to study Waterbenders?"

"Yes, we did," Kya said, her smile growing more distant as her thoughts drifted back towards the past. "We were both Katara's age then, and neither of us had ever met someone from the other's nation. We spent hours on end just talking about life in the Water Tribe or Fire Nation— and by the time your mother left with Iroh to go back home, I was practically begging Ursa to take me with her." Kya laughed at the memory, but a heartbeat later her eyes became tinged with melancholy.

"We each had our responsibilities, though," she finished, "and Ursa's… prevented her from associating openly with her acquaintances from other nations, and especially the Water Tribe."

"You mean she married my father," Zuko supplied with more than a hint of bitterness in his voice, and Kya nodded.

"Ozai let her send the occasional letter, but actual trips here were out of the question. Your surprise visit to drop that proposal on us was the first time I had seen Ursa since her stay here with Iroh all those years ago.

"But I didn't ask you to listen to some old woman prattle on about her past," Kya finished as she brought the prepared pot of tea to the table, along with two mugs. "I wanted to talk to you about Katara."

"Thank you," Zuko said as he took a full mug, taking a sip of the refreshing drink and taking the opportunity to collect his thoughts. The prince was quickly revising his initial opinion of Kya: she was far cagier than she let on, and probably just as strong as her husband—the subtle, finessed compliment to Hakoda's overt raw strength. "What about Katara do you want discuss?"

The woman snorted openly at the question, taking a sip of her tea in turn and smiling.

"Relax, Zuko," Kya said easily. "This isn't any sort of interrogation—that's much more my husband's style. I just wanted to thank you; for everything you've been helping Katara with since your arrival, that is."

"You don't need to thank me for any of that," the prince said evenly as he took another drink. "I'm just repaying Katara's kindness. She could have turned me down flat when my mother and I first got here, but instead she gave me a chance to prove myself… so that's what I intend to do."

Kya had to fight to keep the smile off of her face, inwardly joyful that finally someone like Zuko had tried to court her daughter. But she had to keep up the pretense of seriousness for a little longer, until she'd made her point.

"You don't understand how rare that is, do you?" she asked him. "Every single other young man who's tried to put a necklace around my daughter's neck, save one or two, has just taken Katara's acceptance for granted. Either because of who they were, or who their father was, they thought there was no way someone like Katara could possibly refuse them.

"But you, you're willing to put everything out on the chopping block and let her decide for herself, on her terms. That's incredibly selfless and brave, Zuko. I'm very proud of you."

Words of praise had been the last things the prince thought to expect, and he felt bowled over by Kya's generosity.

"Really, it's nothing that special," he countered, trying to shift attention away from himself again before his composure started to crack. "I just want Katara to be able to make a choice this important for herself. If she doesn't want me here, I'll go home and that'll be the end of it."

Kya could do nothing in the face of such youthful resolve but give a smile that was almost pitying.

"You say that like it doesn't scare you. You don't have to pretend that in front of me, Zuko."

The prince felt something shift inside of him, and unease began to creep into the corner of his mind.

"What's there to be scared of?" he asked as casually as he could.

"Rejection," Kya clarified. "It always stings, no matter how many layers of armor you put up to protect yourself from it. There's no shame in fearing it; deep down, everybody does."

Zuko felt the weight of truth in her words hit him square in the chest, but he refused to budge.

"I've been rejected before," he said flatly. "I've gotten over it just fine."

Kya wanted to tell him that this kind of rejection— the pain of being spurned by a potential partner— was in ways even more terrible than neglect at the hands of a family member. But she held her silence, knowing better than to travel down certain paths here: she was trying to inspire confidence in the young man, not tear it down.

"Yes, you have," she replied at last. "You've grown into a fine young man; certainly one more noble than his father. And I'm sure Katara will see that, when the time comes for her to choose. Unless, of course…" Kya began, before trailing off with a decidedly conspiratorial gleam in her eye.

"Unless?" Zuko prompted her, and she shrugged.

"Unless you wanted to propose to her first," Kya finished, smiling. "On your own terms, though; not like that embassy you and Ursa made when you first got here. I'm sure that would go over well." The smile on her face had turned downright mischievous, and truly Zuko wanted to believe that such a thing would work…

But he couldn't convince himself of it.

"I'm not going to force anything on your daughter," the prince repeated obstinately. "I respect her too much to do something like that."

Kya sighed, having played her last gambit and run up against the brick wall of Fire Nation stubbornness that seemed to run especially strong in males of the royal bloodline.

"And that is very noble of you, Prince," she said as she rose from her seat with a smile. "For what it's worth, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have as a son-in-law."

Zuko rose to his feet and bowed low, humbled by the unfettered kindness and generosity Katara's mother had shown him.

"Thank you very much, Kya," he said as he ended the bow. "It's worth a great deal to me that you feel that way."

"You are most welcome, Prince Zuko," Kya said with a smile. "Now go and get some rest," she continued, maternal once again as the atmosphere in the room shifted noticeably. "Katara had the right idea; all of that Firebending must have worn you out. I'll fix up some lunch in a little while, and wake you up when it's ready."

Zuko nodded and left the main room, walking down the hall towards his own room—

When he suddenly and unexpectedly felt himself get pulled hard from his left side as a pair of hands gripped his arm. Zuko barely had time to react before the only thing he could feel was a general sense of softness and warmth. When something brushed up against his tongue, the prince's reeling awareness finally pieced together that he was being kissed. Deeply. By Katara.

And that it felt really, really good.

His arms wrapped around her midsection on their own, pulling her even closer to him. The kiss continued until they had to break apart for breath, and Zuko felt even more flushed than Katara looked.

"Where did that come from?" he breathed out after a few moments, and the Waterbender beamed at him.

"Consider it a 'thank-you'," she said. "For respecting me."

"You don't have to…" Zuko found himself repeating, before the implication of Katara's phrasing finally sunk in.

"You heard us?" he asked, but by then Katara had already left him alone in the hallway.

The prince smiled and shook his head, wondering what he had done to deserve stumbling into something as great as this. Deciding to simply not worry about it, come what may, Zuko walked the rest of the way to his room and sunk down on top of his bed with a sigh and a smile, asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Azula felt unease knotting tighter and tighter in her stomach as she tried time and again to think up a way out of this mess and couldn't, and not even the hastened speed of her strides could take her mind off of the doom that seemed to be lurking right around the corner. The princess assumed that her father would also give Hanzo orders to kill her, and the only thing keeping both of them alive was the fact that Ozai was mercifully ignorant of their partnership.

A partnership that, despite all of her fervent desires to the contrary, Azula couldn't afford to test the limits of right now. She wanted to humiliate Hanzo for what he'd dared to pull on her, but the princess wasn't stupid; she knew someone like him wouldn't suffer a great enough insult to his pride. And if the bastard prince turned against her, there was no telling what he would do. Someone like Hanzo couldn't be left to his own devices— especially when the alternative was that Azula had him right under her thumb.

It was with these thoughts running through her head that the princess arrived at the room she'd secreted Hanzo into, fully expecting to be able to stand over his bed and imperiously command him exactly what to do and how to do it in order that both of them could keep breathing.

When Azula opened the door, however, she found herself staring incredulously at the bastard prince. Hanzo was on his feet and pacing the room like a caged lion, looking for all the world like he'd never even been laid up in the bed that sat empty against the far wall of the room. His broken wrist was still in a splint, and the band of now-gray cloth still circled the burn on his other arm, but apart from that he looked fine.

"What do you think you're doing?" Azula snapped, closing the door abruptly behind her and taking a few threatening steps forward into the room. "You need to be resting!"

Hanzo stopped his resting pacing, looking up at the princess with an arched eyebrow.

"Since when did you turn into a mother hen-pheasant?" he asked her skeptically, before he noticed the look in her eyes and the tension in her posture. "Are you all right?" Hanzo said solicitously, his dark green eyes genuinely worried. "Did something happen with Ozai?"

"Stop asking me questions and just shut up," Azula seethed, his amber eyes burning with tightly-controlled frustration and anger. "Yes, something happened with my father. He suspects each of us is up to something."

"Which we are," the bastard prince allowed, before sinking into thought. "But as long as he hasn't figured out that we're working together," Hanzo mused, "we should still be fine."

"He told me to kill you."

There was a moment of silence as it became clear to the bastard prince just how screwed they were.

"Oh," he said at last. "That's not good."

"No. No; it isn't," Azula agreed sardonically, before beginning to pace around the room herself. If she could just think of a way out of this…

"That means he's probably going to order me to kill you, as well."

"I know that!" the princess snapped again, not even looking up at the bastard prince. "Just be quiet and let me think!"

"I can't help you if I don't know what's going on, Azula."

"I don't need your help, damn it!"

A strong hand gripped the princess by the shoulder and spun her around to hold her at arm's length, and Azula found herself staring right into a smoldering pair of dark green eyes.

"Yes, you do," Hanzo insisted, "just as much as I need yours. Now tell me what happened with your father."

Azula briefly considered trying to slash one of his eyeballs with her fingernails, but decided against it and sighed.

"He's woken up a sleeper cell of agents given to him by Long Feng," the princess explained as Hanzo lifted his hand from her shoulder. "He wants us to use them to assassinate my cousin… and then he expects us to kill each other, I assume, to cover his tracks."

"That's not surprising, coming from him," the bastard prince said evenly, but Azula could tell something inside of him had cracked; the usual calm in his eyes had been replaced by tension and concern. "Looks like he's making his move, then. We should react accordingly, Azula."

Her amber eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What are you getting at?" she asked pointedly, an inking of an answer forming in her mind that was so outrageously implausible it couldn't possibly be the one Hanzo was about to give her.

But it was, all the same.

"I mean we should just kill all of the sleeper agents," the bastard prince said with a tone that cut like steel, "and then go after your father."

"Are you insane?" Azula hissed, her eyes widening again. "That's suicide!"

"And you'd rather wait for your father to come to you with a smile on his face and slash your throat open, is that it?" Hanzo pressed. "Ozai's holding an axe over our heads, Azula," he continued, his voice bleeding quiet intensity once again. "_Both of us_. Even if he doesn't know we're working together, your father suspects each of us enough that he wants us dead. And I don't know about you, but I'm not about to just sit on my hands and wait for the reaper. I've lost enough in my life already; your father isn't going to take what little I still have from me."

The words were full of edge and fire and hatred, so much of each that Azula almost took a step backwards. Instead she stood her ground, focused the pieces of her scattered will, and forced herself back to calmness. She had to keep the upper hand between them, or everything would come to ruin regardless. The princess saw now that Hanzo was little more than a mad dog when angered— and that such anger, while formidable, was useless without a strong hand to temper and guide it.

"Fine," Azula said after a long moment, every ounce of her commanding poise back in her tone. "But if we're going to go merrily to our deaths, _I'm_ leading the way. If we follow what we can still salvage of my original plan, we might have a slim chance."

Hanzo gave her a smile that was at once admiring, amused and hungry, and it sent a light jolt arcing up the princess's spine.

"As you command, your highness."

Azula waited a heartbeat longer before pulling the bastard prince to her, gripping the back of his head and capturing his lips in a kiss. She pushed harder than Hanzo every time he tried to one-up her; she needed to bring him to heel, and if this was how it would be done, then so be it.

_You idiot, _a small voice broke in with dry disapproval from some back corner of her mind. _He's just giving you what you want. You're not taking control, _he_ is._

_That remains to be seen,_ the princess countered acidly, shoving the prying shred of circumspection away and focusing back on the duel at hand. She refused to let herself enjoy the sensations running through her at the contact, striving to keep her coherence together.

"Just give up, Azula," the bastard prince murmured against her lips as he broke the kiss for a fleeting moment. "You're not going to win this."

_Oh, really now?_

She moved her hand down from the back of Hanzo's head, and felt him stiffen at once. He tried to back away, but Azula held him firm and kept moving her hand down, intent on raking her nails across his back…

And then she felt something that made her stop dead in her tracks. Her grip slackened at once, her eyes widening in shock as Hanzo broke off the kiss and took two of the fastest steps backwards the princess had ever seen. His eyes looked torn between rage and shame, but the only thing Azula could give him in return was shock.

"That…" she began, before the next words died in her throat and she had to try again. "That was… _how_?" the princess managed, while Hanzo gripped the bottom of his loose shirt and pulled it over his head. "Who did that to you?"

The bastard prince said nothing at first, merely turning around so that Azula could get a good look at what her hand had felt. Her original impression confirmed, the princess could only stare at the sight in front of her in mute horror.

Hanzo had been branded.

A circle of blackened flesh in the shape of the Earth Kingdom's elemental symbol had been seared into the upper half of his back, the upper point at the same height as the bottom of his shoulders and the bottom resting at the middle of his spine. Only a lone square of skin in the middle of the brand was unmarred: the hollow space in the center of the symbol.

"Who did that to you?" Azula repeated, her voice softer this time. "How did you even survive it?"

Hanzo turned back around to face the princess, and she saw that his chest was marked by several scars that left white slashes across his chest, some small and some larger. He gave her a sad smile, not at all surprised by the expression on her face. It was the same one that had been worn by the first and only other person to witness his brand before now… right before Hanzo had cut his head clean off of his shoulders.

But he was stronger than that now; stronger than his vanity and self-loathing. And so he smiled, and let his eyes convey the ghost of his pain.

"That, Azula," he said as he turned and began to walk back towards his bed, "is a long, sad story. Let it lie."

"Tell me," the princess insisted with just enough force to put a hitch in Hanzo's step, and he stopped right by the edge of the bed.

"Why do you want to know?"

_I want to know how you ever made peace with that much pain._

"Just tell me," Azula said, walking over to him and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Please."

The branded prince tried to bring himself to say 'no', but he cracked in the end and sat down with a sigh. He knew how much it must have taken for Azula to go as far as to plead with him, and in truth he'd been waiting for someone to share the story of his mark with since he'd gotten it on his seventh birthday.

If she really wanted to know, far be it for him to deny her.

"The man who gave this to me," Hanzo began dispassionately, "was my father."

* * *

…

…

**A/N:** Ugh, that was a rough last bit to write. At least the rest of it was (more or less) shameless fluff, so that balances it out. Also, Zutara. Huzzah!

Now it's time to thank the new reviewers from this past week, because they are awesome: **typicalloser**, **HarlowR** and **canyousayclaire**. Glad to have y'all aboard!

Also, thanks as usual to all of the constant readers, both for your feedback and for putting up with the slow-burn pacing of this story for so long... it's about to heat up in a big way over the next few weeks, for real.

As for next week's teaser, Azula learns about the history behind Hanzo's brand, Lu Ten has one hell of a rough night, and Zuko has a heart-to-heart with Sokka over the impending possibility of his engagement to Katara. There may be other bits as well, space permitting, but those are the sure things.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you next week!

**- Jazz**


	15. Hand Covers Bruise

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 15:** Hand Covers Bruise

* * *

"I only met my father once," Hanzo said, his green eyes clouding over with the memory, "but I won't forget that day for as long as I live. It was the morning of my seventh birthday, when I got the chance to see just how limitless the human capacity for cruelty really was."

_The boy stood and stared out the shop's back window, the sword on his lap temporarily forgotten as he stole a few moments to people-watch. The best part about working in Ba Sing Se was that there were people everywhere, and all sorts of them at that. Families, merchants, mercenaries, craftsmen; his wide, dark-green eyes took in everyone._

'_Always keep your eyes open, boy,' the words that had been drilled into his head by his teacher running through it again. 'Never miss a detail; not when it might mean your life.'_

'_But what if I'm somewhere I can't see?'_

_The hard blow of a hand slamming into the back of his head sent it ringing, but the boy could still hear his teacher's reply through the buzzing._

'_I don't appreciate lip,' he said coolly. 'Still, that is a good point, even if you blundered onto it like an idiot. If you cannot use your eyes, hear with your ears. If your ears are closed, feel with your body. Never forget that you are a sword, boy: and a sword can always find a way to cut.'_

_The memory faded, but the bitter taste it brought to the back of the boy's mouth lingered. Frowning, he returned his attention to the _jian_ on his lap and lifted up the rag that sat in his other hand, using the piece of cloth to polish the steel with fastidious care until it gleamed. _

_The blade was perfectly balanced, the hilt carved out of pure obsidian. The dark stone was shaped like twin scrolls at the point where the hilt joined the blade, so realistic that the boy half expected the ends to unroll whenever he looked at them. The blade itself was simply decorated, inscribed with the words 'Strike true, or not at all.' Local rumors said that the sword had once belonged to Chin the Conqueror himself, but the boy didn't care about its origins._

_All that concerned him was that today, after having looked at it for so long, having taken the time to learn every inch of it, it would finally be his. He'd squirreled away a fraction of his meager pay for years, one day at a time, and he finally had enough to buy the sword. Even if it was probably still a little heavy for him to use in a fight, he didn't care._

"_There you are, Hanzo!" the shopkeeper's hard voice cut into the boy's thoughts, and he almost dropped the sword in surprise. "What do you think you're doing?"_

"_Just cleaning this, ma'am," Hanzo replied respectfully, trying to put some fear into his voice. The woman who'd been his taskmaster for as long as he could walk didn't scare him at all compared to his teacher, but Hanzo knew she liked to think he feared her. It kept her from smacking him around when she felt angry with her life, which was almost all the time. _

_One day, Hanzo told himself as he re-sheathed the sword lovingly and handed the weapon over reluctantly to the shopkeeper, he was going to use it to cut out her heart._

"_Stop getting your dirty hands all over my best merchandise, you rat," the shopkeeper snapped, her beady little eyes narrowing in anger. "That's probably why we haven't sold this sword yet; they can smell your filth all over it. Honestly, if Master Jin himself hadn't requested I take you on as an apprentice, you'd have been out on the street a long time ago. Now get back out front and make sure the mice haven't shown up again, before I really get mad."_

_Hanzo nodded and walked back into the main room of the shop, grabbing a broom on his way there and readying himself for the incredibly exciting task of hunting down mice._

_The light, tinkling sound of the bell that announced a new customer flit briefly through the shop before fading, and Hanzo thought nothing of it as his sharp eyes scoured the base of the walls for nooks, crannies and other places mice might be hiding._

"_Oh, Mr. Rao, Sir!" the shopkeeper's voice trilled out with excitement that tried a little too hard to be genuine. "It's so good to see you again!"_

_Hanzo felt his heart clench in his chest as his hands reflexively squeezed broom-handle. Rao was a nobleman who had an unhealthy obsession with fine blades and more money than ten families put together would know what to do with. And so Hanzo had always been careful to hide the sword… _his_ sword… away somewhere safe whenever Rao came to visit._

_But now the rich man was here, and the sword was clutched in the hands of the witch who would have sold her own children off to make a profit. In fact, Hanzo was fairly sure she already had._

"_Likewise, Lady Tam," Rao replied smoothly, and Hanzo would have snorted at the notion that the shopkeeper was at all a 'Lady' if his heart hadn't been hammering in his ears. _

_And then the scene of his nightmares decided to waltz right out into reality._

"_Say, that is a gorgeous-looking _jian_," Rao said as he noticed the black-leather sheath inlaid with fine golden line-work that danced and spun in the light. "Might I see the blade?"_

"_Oh, certainly!" Tam gushed, all but tearing the sword out of its housing, and clumsily at that. Hanzo winced at the sound the movement made, something between a squeak and a shriek—the blade could sing beautifully, and she was treating it like a tavern crooner. Unforgivable. _

"_Gorgeous," Rao muttered half under his breath as the bare blade shone in the sunlight. "Absolutely gorgeous. How does five thousand gold pieces sound?"_

_Tam looked like she'd just been smacked in the face by a large, dead fish. _

"_I beg your pardon, Sir?" she asked after a moment, like she couldn't believe any sword in her collection, as large as it was, could be worth _that_ much._

Because you have no idea what you're doing, _Hanzo thought with bile and hatred, entertaining the thought of just killing the pair of them and running far, far away._

_But the urge passed, and the boy hung his head in the face of the inevitable. The sword was sold after a few more words, and Rao walked out of the shop whistling an insufferably satisfied little tune. _

_How could today possibly get any worse?_

"Very easily, as it turned out," Hanzo told Azula, his voice tinged with a trace of black humor. "That afternoon, my teacher— Jin— paid me a surprise visit. He told me that, since I was turning seven that day, I was ready to take my first step into the real world. And no young man could move forward in life without knowing where they'd come from."

"You mean your father hadn't even met you by then?" the princess asked, arching an eyebrow. "You were seven years old."

"I was also a bastard, and the king's legitimate sons were still alive," the branded prince replied hollowly. "But I didn't know any of that then. I was just happy that I'd finally get to meet one of my parents… and if I was lucky," Hanzo finished, sadness bleeding into his eyes, "my mother might have been there, too."

"Who was she?" Azula asked, only to be met with a sad shake of the head.

"All in good time, Princess," Hanzo said quietly. "All in good time."

"_We're going to meet my father?" Hanzo said, an ember of excitement flaring up from beneath the crushing disappointment he'd felt at the loss of his sword. "How do you know who he is?"_

"_How do you think?" Jin said shortly, his brown eyes narrowing in open scorn. "He was the one who gave you to me after you were born, to drop you off on Tam's doorstep."_

_Hanzo's pace faltered at those words, not sure if he'd heard them correctly but too nervous to prod his teacher for clarification. Jin was scary enough in a normal mood, and there was no mistaking that something had him on edge. _

_But if what he'd said was true—and there was no reason to think that it wasn't—that meant that his father had given him away right after he was born, or very near to it. His father hadn't wanted him. And worse, he'd given him to that shrew of a shopkeeper._

_Why hadn't his father wanted him? What was wrong with him? And why would he try to walk into his son's life now, after so many years away from it?_

"_Hurry up, boy," Jin's clipped voice snapped at him. "I don't have time for your dawdling."_

_Hanzo picked his stride back up and hurried after his teacher, stealing a glance around him as he did so to try and get a feel for where they were going. It was somewhere on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se's upper ring, but an area Hanzo had never bothered exploring before. It was still under development, full of partially-completed houses, half-empty warehouses and shops waiting for goods to fill their shelves._

"_Why are we going here?" the boy asked after a few more moments in silence. "There's nothing around here worth seeing."_

_"Precisely," Jin answered evenly. "If you're just going to use that mouth of yours to state the obvious, keep it shut."_

_Hanzo obeyed, feeling hatred rise up to snuff out the sliver of excitement that had been growing thinner and thinner since Jin had told him about his father's abandoning him. One of these days, he was going to get back at his teacher for all the times he'd belittled him. _

_One day._

_"My Lord Tariyama," a voice called out from their right, prompting Jin and Hanzo to turn towards it. The speaker was a man wearing a heavy cloak, surrounded by the long shadow of a large, unfinished tea-shop. "You're here. Please follow me; our Majesty is expecting you and the boy."_

"Wait," Azula broke in, her amber eyes narrowed and skeptical. "Your teacher was _the_ Jin Tariyama? That's not possible."

"Why not?" Hanzo countered, arching an eyebrow of his own. "You think I'm lying to you?"

"'The Iron Devil' is a bedtime story parents tell misbehaved children to get them in line," the princess persisted. "He's not real."

"All of those stories spring from a kernel of truth," the branded prince said firmly. "He was real, all right. Not some half-spirit, immortal murdering fiend like the stories painted him to be, but very near that in his own way. Now, do you want me to finish this or not?"

Azula frowned, but nodded all the same.

"Go on."

_A draft blew in through the uncovered windows when the trio stepped into the tea-shop, and Hanzo felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the sudden chill. _

"_Ah," a voice called out from the shadows, "you're here. I was beginning to think you'd make me wait all day, old man."_

_Jin gave a thin smile at the address, and Hanzo found the sight so unnatural it was almost terrifying. His teacher looked like a feral animal with its fangs bared, a far cry from the composed, icy expression his face usually wore._

"_I'm only four years ahead of you, Zhou," Jin shot back. "Keep that up, and I'll show you just how young I am."_

_Zhou. The name sent another chill running down Hanzo's spine, and this one had nothing to do with the cold. So the other man he didn't know hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said 'our Majesty.' The Earth King was here, in the flesh._

_But then that would mean that he was…_

"_No need, old friend," Zhou said with a chuckle as he stepped out into the light, putting just enough of a stress on the first word of the title to rankle Jin again. The Earth King shivered as another draft blew in. "I don't know why you suggested we do this all the way out here," he groused at Hanzo's teacher. "You; Lee," Zhou continued, pointing to the third man, "go make us a fire in that hearth. And make it a big one, while you're at it."_

"_At once, Majesty," Lee answered with a nod, before hurrying over to the empty hearth at the far end of the main room and shoving some of the dry wood that sat next to it into the open space. Meanwhile, Zhou looked down at Hanzo with a plain, judging look in his dark green eyes. The same eyes that Hanzo saw every time he looked into a mirror._

"_So," the Earth King said without a hint of emotion, "this is him, then?" _

"_Indeed," Jin answered coolly, looking down his nose at his student. "I had hopes for him at the beginning, but that was a mistake. He's soft as clay, with none of your iron at all. Almost two whole years I've trained him, every day, and he still can't touch me."_

"_Well, they can't all rise to the top," Zhou said disinterestedly. "I knew I should have just told Senyaka to give me his prized pupil for a night; she would have made a better brood mare than some random whore from the Fire Nation."_

"_She probably would have also tried to murder you in your bed," Jin countered, smiling again. "I've only met a few women like June in my time, and they've all been more stallion than mare."_

_Zhou shrugged, before focusing his attention on Hanzo._

"_My sword," he said evenly, staring into the boy's eyes as if he could read his soul through them. "Tell me, have you killed anyone yet?"_

_Hanzo had no idea how to respond, so he went with the first word that came to his tongue._

"_What?"_

_Jin's hand whipped out and smacked the boy's head so hard he felt his teeth rattle._

"_Address your King with respect, or not at all."_

_The words reminded Hanzo of the inscription on the _jian_ he had lost, and his heart clenched again._

"_I beg your pardon, Majesty," he said lowly, contrite. "Why did you ask me that?"_

"_To find out if you were as soft as Jin here says you are," Zhou answered, still dispassionate. "So, have you killed anyone yet?"_

"_No, Majesty."_

_The Earth King gave a scornful snort. _

"_No? And here I thought you would have at least snapped the neck of the annoying bitch who runs that weapon shop by now. That was certainly the plan, at least."_

_The _plan_?_

"_I have thought about it, though," Hanzo amended, hoping that would count for something. "A lot."_

"_Fantasies of revenge are pointless, boy," Zhou said coldly, and Hanzo fought back a wince. His father didn't even use his name. Had he even been the one to choose it? "If you lack the will to realize your ambitions, you might as well already be dead. Lee," he shouted over to the man by the hearth, "is that fire ready yet?"_

"_Yes, Majesty."_

"_Fantastic," Zhou said, his tone upbeat for the first time as a smile slipped across his face that made Hanzo very, very scared, even if he didn't dare show it. "Do you see that big hunk of iron hanging on the wall?"_

_A moment's pause. _

"_This— this cattle brand, Majesty?"_

"_Precisely," the Earth King affirmed, his smile widening. "Did you know, boy," Zhou continued, crouching down to be at eye-level with his son, "that this place used to house livestock?"_

"_N—no, Majesty."_

_Zhou caught the fear in Hanzo's voice and frowned._

"_Do I scare you?" he asked, and Hanzo shook his head._

"_No, Majesty," he repeated, with more force this time. Zhou smiled._

"_We'll fix that in a moment," the Earth King said, and something in the corner of Hanzo's mind was screaming at him to be anywhere in the world other than right here. "Anyway, as I was saying," Zhou resumed, "this place used to be where butchers kept their cattle before it was slaughtered. But someone apparently thinks it would make a much better tea-shop, so here we are. At least they were lazy enough to not have finished cleaning out the old wares just yet. Like that brand over there. Lee! Heat that thing up, will you?"_

"_Majesty?" Lee called over, uncertain. Zhou frowned._

"_Just do it, before I have Jin use the thing to bash your head in." the Earth King turned his head back to face Hanzo, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder in a twisted parody of paternal affection._

"_You," he said quietly, "have a problem. Do you know what that is?"_

"_No," Hanzo answered as firmly as he could, trying to ignore the churning in his stomach. _

"_You don't know what it feels like to hate someone," Zhou explained. "And I mean really, truly hate them. Enough to kill them. Without that, you're worthless to me. But I know how to fix that problem, boy."_

"_You do?"_

_The Earth King smiled again, and Hanzo knew he would have a new figure in his nightmares to replace Rao._

"_I do. Lee! Bring that brand over here! You," Zhou said as he rose and looked over at Jin, "get him prone."_

_Hanzo felt his legs get swept out from under him by a swift kick from his teacher, the wind forced from his chest as soon as he hit the floor. A foot on his back pinned him to the ground a moment later, and the boy couldn't move a muscle. _

"_Get his shirt off," the Earth King said calmly as he rolled his sleeves up, his dark green eyes never betraying any emotion at all. "I probably should have said that first, huh?"_

_Hanzo could feel the heat radiating off of the brand as it approached him, and deep, primal fear at what he knew was coming made him panic._

"_Why are you doing this?" he half-shouted into the wood pressing against his face. "Why?"_

"_Because you are weak, and I need you strong," Zhou answered as he took the glowing brand from Lee and hoisted it up by the insulated grip. "Because you feel hope instead of hate. Because you dream rather than act. Because you are a sword who fancies himself a boy."_

_Hanzo felt a bizarre clarity come over him as he accepted the fate that was only a few feet away from him, and took his last moment before the pain to voice one final question._

"_My mother," he said. "Where is she?"_

_The question gave Zhou pause, and he looked over at Jin as the swordsman reached down and used a knife to cut Hanzo's shirt off of his back. _

"_You never told him?"_

_Jin shrugged._

"_Didn't see the point," he said casually, before making the last cut and severing the cloth in two pieces._

_Zhou chuckled; this actually worked quite well indeed._

"_I had your teacher here cut her head off about five minutes after you were born," the Earth King said with dark amusement in his voice. "It would have been a shame to do that to Senyaka's pupil, but who's going to miss one little whore?"_

_It was then that Hanzo felt the hate his father had spoken of flare up in his chest, as cold and dark as a thunderhead in the dead of night. He let out an inhuman howl and tried to rise, but the brand was there to meet him and his world became consumed by blinding agony._

"_Let this mark remind you were you stand in life," Zhou's voice called out nebulously, and Hanzo didn't know if he was awake or dreaming; alive or dying. "You are nothing more than my tool, to be used at my discretion. I brought you into this world. And if you displease me, I can wipe you off of it. Never forget that."_

_The words stopped then, and the welcoming darkness rushed up to meet the branded boy. _

_He embraced it gladly, and wondered idly in his delirium if his mother was waiting for him somewhere within it. Would he even recognize her, or she him? It didn't matter._

_But it was a false hope; when Hanzo awoke, only the wooden floor of the unfinished tea-shop was there to greet him. His back was numb when it didn't flare up in sudden pain, which it did when he tried to move. The boy rose up inch by agonizing inch, not bothering to stop the tears that splattered down onto the wood below him. Hanzo forced his way to his feet, gasping and retching and filled with nothing but pain and rage._

"_Uhf…"_

_The sudden sound of a groan from behind him turned the boy around instantly. Hanzo saw that the man who had heated up the brand, Lee, was sitting in the middle of the floor. His arms and legs were bound by rope, and a strip of cloth stifled his speech._

_The knife Jin had used to cut off his shirt sat on the floor next to the bound man, and Hanzo knew what he was expected to do._

_And right now, he didn't care that he was being manipulated into it. The rational part of his mind was small and meek compared to the seething storm of his anger, and it would not be heeded. _

_The knife fit into Hanzo's hand like it had been made to do so. The steel sang a single note when he freed it from the scabbard, and it was the most beautiful thing the boy had ever heard. _

_Lee only had a heartbeat to panic as he saw what was about to happen, but there was nowhere he could run._

_Two minutes later the branded boy left the empty tea-shop behind him, nothing in it but a dying fire, a headless corpse and a bloody knife._

Hanzo fell silent as his story came to a close, slouched over and shaking.

His eyes were closed, and it took Azula some time to realize that he was sobbing, even if the tears would not come. The princess was stunned by the brutality of what had happened to him, and could do nothing but stare for a few heartbeats.

Then her hand moved, almost on its own, and came to rest over his. Hanzo turned to face her, surprised, and Azula tightened her grip as the words her father had spoken to her earlier echoed in her head.

_I have no use for faulty tools._

It was a moment before Hanzo's other hand moved, the splint around his wrist not keeping his thumb from gently wiping away a tear from her cheek that the princess didn't even know she'd shed. The tenderness in the gesture surprised Azula, but it felt as genuine as the story he'd just finished telling her.

"Don't worry," he said softly as his hand shifted to rest beneath her chin. "I won't tell anyone I made you cry."

The princess opened her mouth instinctively to retort, but Hanzo stopped the words before they came. There was none of his earlier fire in this kiss; only raw need, and a deep, thrumming note of desperation thrumming beneath it. Azula let herself go and responded in kind, finally releasing all of the anger and self-loathing she'd felt at the hands of her father's scorn. He'd torn down her life's work in a moment, and left her with nothing.

Well, almost nothing.

Hanzo felt the princess's free arm reach up and circle around his shoulders and he smiled against her lips: if he was destined to be a sword, at least he belonged to someone who truly understood him.

They broke apart slowly, each one dragging themselves back regretfully into what reality had left for them to deal with.

"You should go find your cousin," Hanzo spoke first, his voice still quiet but now intense rather than gentle. "Tell him to be ready, but don't give too much away; we need to make this look genuine to your father's goons."

Azula nodded, before narrowing her eyes slightly.

"And what are you going to do?" she asked in return.

"I'm going to put on my costume and play my part," the branded prince answered. "My guess is Ozai left instructions for me hidden in the library… I'll see what they say, then I'll come find you."

The princess thought for a moment, before shaking her head.

"No," she said. "Round up the assassins, then come and find us yourself. We'll have more surprise on our side that way, if those drones don't know what I'm up to until it's too late."

Hanzo nodded in acceptance of the order before getting to his feet, walking over to the closet on the other side of the room and taking out a few pieces of burgundy clothing. As he began tearing a tunic into strips to cover up his face with, the princess rose as well and made to leave.

"Azula."

Her hand stopped against the door, and she turned back over her shoulder.

"What is it?"

Hanzo smiled at her, nothing in his eyes but gratitude.

"Thank you."

Azula said nothing as she slid the door open, walking out of the room and closing it shut behind her.

She made sure she was ten feet down the hall and alone before the princess let herself smile in kind.

* * *

Lu Ten paused outside of the door, straining his ears to see if the room's occupant was still sleeping before he potentially woke them up by knocking.

"It's fine," came the answer to the unspoken question. "Come on in, your highness."

The crown prince pushed open the door and stepped into the Earthbender's room, finding Toph already standing on the floor and looking over at him expectantly.

"So," she said flatly, "what's up? You seem… jumbled."

"I feel like it, too," Lu Ten admitted, some of his muscles still stiff from earlier. "The thing is, I decided to take your advice, Toph."

The Earthbender grinned.

"Always a good choice," she replied. "So, we going after that slimy snail-slug, or what?"

"Not quite, no," the crown prince answered, "but I do have the feeling that Ozai's going to try something, and soon. He knows I have his number; he's not going to just wait for us to move first. So I want you to watch my back for a while, until this whole mess clears up."

Toph's sightless eyes glinted with excitement.

"I'd love to," she said, smiling. "Been way too long since the last time I had a good fight. Lead the way, boss."

Lu Ten gave a thin smile and began to walk back down the hall toward his room, the Earthbender following close behind him on his left. When Toph got a clearer feel for the specific muscles that the crown prince seemed to be favoring or letting rest, a knowing smile spread slowly across her face.

"Well, you two certainly didn't waste any time, did you?"

To his credit, Lu Ten's step hitched only slightly at the question before he'd recovered his balance.

"June's not the kind of person who does," he said with a hint of wistful fondness to his voice, although Toph also picked up a note of regret.

"She's gone, then?" the Earthbender asked after a moment, and the crown prince nodded.

"For now," he hedged, the regret shifting to hope. "She has something she needs to take care of, just like we do."

The crown prince let the silence between them stand for a bit before he spoke again, his tone searching.

"Are you really okay with this, Toph?"

"What kind of a question is that?" she shot back almost instantly. "This scumball uncle of yours almost _killed us_; of course I'm fine with throwing a wrench into whatever he's scheming."

"I wasn't talking about Ozai," Lu Ten said evenly. "Your parents have no idea where you are. For all they know, that fire the Yu Yan set off could have killed you. Are you okay with them not knowing what happened?"

The Earthbender just shrugged, but the crown prince could see the tension in her as she did so.

"I'll let them know once this drama here is done with," Toph said, betraying no doubts at all that she would survive any conflict that might come. "But one way or another, I'm going to train the Avatar and that's that. We made a deal."

Lu Ten bit back a sigh; he'd fought Earthbenders for years, and for him to expect that one as powerful in their element as Toph was wouldn't be stubborn as a mule-goat was just foolish.

"Fine," he said at last. "But you really should let them know you're all right."

"I just said I would," she snapped, letting some of her irritation show. "Maybe you should worry about your own family's problems first, before you go hounding after me about mine."

The crown prince was silent for a beat, and then he gave a bitter smile.

"That's fair," he allowed, sighing as he thought about his cousin. No doubt Ozai had snatched her up into whatever he was planning, and sooner or later Azula was going to have to choose a side. And as much faith as he had in her to make the right choice, the crown prince knew he'd also be deluding himself if he didn't acknowledge how strong Ozai's grip on his daughter's self-image was.

He could still remember one of the times the princess and her brother had been paraded in front of Azulon by their father, in what felt like a misguided attempt to curry favor with the Fire Lord in case something ever happened to Iroh. Azula had gone first, flawlessly demonstrating her unique ability to create blue flames—something that had never been seen before in the Fire Nation. Zuko had come next and bungled his _kata_, but the strong determination that would come to define him had shone in his eyes even then. Lu Ten had been proud of both his cousins, but that pride wasn't what had stuck with him the most about that day.

It had been the words he'd overheard Ozai say to Azula as the pair of them left the hall, while Ursa tended to Zuko's bruised ego.

"_Why didn't you show him lightning?"_ The general had demanded. _"You should at least be able to harness it by now, even if not precisely!"_

"_I'm sorry, father,"_ Azula had replied, sounding chastised. Her father had said nothing else, but the pain and hurt in the princess's voice had remained in the side of Lu Ten's mind like a thorn.

For that— and many other things besides—Lu Ten was certain that if his uncle ever gave him the opening, he was going to kill him.

"Hey, boss. Get your head out of the clouds, quick."

Toph's blunt voice dragged the crown prince back into the present, and he quickly blinked his recollection away.

"What's wrong?"

"Little Miss Prissy Princess is on her way over here," the Earthbender clarified darkly, shifting into a fighting stance. "_That's_ what's wrong."

Lu Ten looked down the hallway and could make out Azula's form as she approached, but he didn't tense up at all.

"Relax, Toph," he said instead, putting a hand on her shoulder. "If she was here to fight, we'd know it by now. This is something else."

Toph forced her muscles to ease back to normal, and let her senses focus on Azula instead. The crown prince was right: it wasn't by much, but the princess's heart-rate was definitely more erratic than usual. Even in the middle of their fight, she'd been calmer than this… up until she'd tried to murder her opponent with a bolt of lightning, at least.

The Earthbender tensed up again at the memory, but by now Azula was almost within speaking range and she still hadn't attacked them. Maybe—hopefully—Lu Ten's intuition was right on this one.

"What's _she_ doing here?"

The princess's question reminded Toph of a rat-viper hissing right before a strike, and she wasted no time in returning the favor.

"I should be asking _you_ that," the Earthbender countered, before she smiled just a little too sweetly. "How's the leg?"

"Just fine," Azula replied with equally false innocence, the air crackling for a heartbeat as one thin spark of lightning danced around her hand before vanishing again. "Care for a demonstration?"

"Enough, both of you," Lu Ten broke in, his voice carrying enough steel in it to brook no argument. "The last thing I want right now is for us to be doing my uncle's work for him. Why are you here, Azula?"

The princess's cocksure demeanor evaporated at the question, and she faced her cousin with grim determination.

"Ozai expects me to kill you," she answered frankly. "Those were his direct orders."

The silence that followed the declaration was palpable, but Lu Ten still refrained from taking up a defensive posture.

"… and?" Toph prompted after a moment, back on edge again. Azula made no effort to conceal the disdain in her gaze as she looked over at the Earthbender, not even caring that it would go unseen.

"Do you think I would tell you that if I was actually going to do it, you simpleton?" the princess said acidly, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not stupid."

"Could've fooled me," Toph replied, half under her breath. Lu Ten put a firm hand on her shoulder, curbing anything else that might have risked starting a fight.

"Why are you here, Azula?" the crown prince asked again, his voice suddenly far gentler than it had been before. "Why turn your back on your father?"

A flicker of emotion passed through the princess's eyes, but it was gone almost as soon as it had appeared.

"As far as I'm concerned," she said coldly, turning around and walking back towards her cousin's room, "I have no father."

The crown prince followed in his cousin's wake, immensely relieved at the choice Azula had made—at the same time, however, he shuddered to think of what had pushed her to make it.

"So," Lu Ten broached at last as the trio finally got to his room and walked inside, "I assume Ozai wasn't planning on sending you after me by yourself?"

Azula shook her head as she took a seat, casting a cursory glance around the room to look for positions that would be tactically superior once the fighting started. If everything went well, they wouldn't be needed… but it never hurt to be sure.

"He was going to have me use a few sleeper agents Long Feng snuck into the palace," the princess answered, and Lu Ten gave a surprising smile. "What's so amusing about that?" Azula asked in return, puzzled; she'd never known her cousin to actively relish the prospect of a battle before.

"I'd heard that Long Feng had infested this place with some of his spies," the crown prince clarified, "but I didn't think we'd be getting the chance to clean them all out so soon. Some blessing in disguise, I'd say."

"If this all works out in our favor," Toph broke in bluntly, "and that's a pretty big 'if'. Where are the agents now, if they're not with you?"

"Being rounded up and organized by someone who Ozai thinks is still working for him," Azula said casually, looking down at her nails. "They should be here before too long, I would think."

"And this person who's organizing the spies," Lu Ten hazarded a guess, "works for you now, rather than Ozai?"

The princess looked up at her cousin and smiled.

"Of course he does."

"'He'?" the Earthbender repeated after a moment, a mischievous edge to her voice. "I thought you'd be the absolute _last_ person on earth to snag yourself a boyfriend. How did that even happen?"

"He's not my boyfriend," the princess shot back at once, but it was already too late: her heartbeat had spiked at the question for the briefest of moments before Azula had gotten it back under control, and Toph knew she'd struck a nerve. Before she could dig a little deeper, though, Lu Ten cut back in to the conversation.

"Can he be trusted?"

Azula nodded.

"Unconditionally."

The crown prince smiled wide.

"Good. What sort of plan did the two of you work out, exactly?"

"First, I come here to warn you ahead of time. Then later, Hanzo—my agent—"

"You mean your boyfriend?"

"— comes along with all the assassins in tow," Azula finished smoothly, "suspecting nothing. We catch them off guard and kill them all."

"Works for me," Toph spoke up again, "but are you sure killing all of them is a good idea? What if the Fire Lord wants hard proof that General Jerk gave the order himself?"

"Any agents trained by Long Feng would kill themselves before confessing," Azula answered flatly. "Even if we could take some of them alive, they would be worth less than nothing. Besides, there's no need for living proof when we already have another kind."

"We do?" Lu Ten asked, arching an eyebrow. The princess nodded again, a conspiratorial gleam in her eyes.

"Ozai told me to kill Hanzo once the assassination attempt on you was finished," she said. "And seeing as how he no longer trusts me, I don't doubt for a second that he told Hanzo to do the same to me… probably hoping that we'd wind up killing each other, and that would keep things quiet."

"But he couldn't tell that to Hanzo in person, because it might get overheard," the crown prince finished, eyes widening in understanding as he put the pieces together in his head. "So he'd have to put the instructions down in writing."

"Precisely," Azula said, smiling. "And those instructions will be in our hands before the sun goes down. That should be more than enough proof for your father, I'd think."

"Absolutely."

"So, we're just supposed to sit on our hands and wait until your boyfriend shows up with these goons?" the Earthbender pressed, crossing her arms impatiently.

The princess kept her irritation limited to a minute twitch, painfully aware that gouging this brat's useless eyes out of her skull would do nothing to cement Lu Ten's trust that she'd changed sides. So Azula reined herself in, quietly swearing that their eventual rematch wouldn't end like their first encounter had.

"Yes," she answered calmly, "that's exactly what we're going to do. Everything hinges on us having the element of surprise—if we lose it, this will wind up being considerably messier than necessary."

"Good point," the crown prince agreed, his amber eyes focused as he slipped back into the mindset of a soldier. "The quicker and quieter we do this, the better. If Ozai finds out his plan failed before we're ready to let him know it, there's no telling what his reaction would be."

"Probably not a good one," Toph supplied, before leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes with a sigh. "I'm gonna rest for a little bit. And my feet'll wake me up if anyone comes along," she added as Lu Ten opened his mouth to protest, "so don't worry about that."

The two royals were quiet in the moments that followed, until the crown prince pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked over at the princess.

"Azula," he said, "come here for a second."

She arched an eyebrow, but rose and walked over all the same—only to be pulled into an unexpected hug.

"I just want you to know," Lu Ten spoke softly to his cousin, "that I'm so, so proud of you. What you're doing is incredibly brave."

"It's nothing special," Azula equivocated as she stepped backwards, letting her cousin's hands rest on her shoulders. Even now, she was still unaccustomed to this kind of genuine, heartfelt praise. "Anyone in my position would do the same."

The crown prince chuckled, smiling.

"I can count how many people alive right now could stand up to Ozai on one hand, and still have fingers left over. Give yourself some more credit, Azula."

The princess smiled in kind, but it was tinged with melancholy.

"I'll worry about that when this is all over," she said. "But not yet."

* * *

Zuko's eyes snapped open wide as his nightmare came to a sudden, violent end, a sharp intake of breath cutting cold and jagged into his lungs.

_Katara!_

Her name caught on his lips as the prince bit it back, not wanting to wake up anyone else. He rolled over and slowly closed his eyes again, but it was only a few seconds before the grizzly image of his father standing triumphantly over Katara's corpse spread out behind his eyelids. Giving up on any hope of falling back to sleep, the prince pushed aside the sealskin coverlet and dragged himself to his feet with a groan.

Shrugging on a thick, fur-lined jacket and pulling on a pair of boots, Zuko made his way out through the main room of the house and into the surprisingly mild night air, the moon shining bright above him. A quick sigh made a small white cloud that might as well have been smoke coming out from between the prince's lips, but he paid it no mind. He walked without a thought to where he was going; all that mattered was the chance that his nightmare might remain behind him. He'd been troubled by bad dreams in his younger days, but the prince had just assumed he'd outgrown them. And not only that, but none of them had been as vivid as this one: he could still smell the singed flesh on the air, and it made his stomach turn.

His ears could still hear his father laughing, mocking him for everything he wasn't and would never be…

"Fancy seeing you out here, Zuko."

The prince turned around and saw Sokka standing nearby, leaning against an outcropping of ice. Apparently, he'd been moving away from the village faster than he'd thought: the few nightfires burning at the entrances were now no more than small flickers of light in the distance.

"Couldn't get to sleep," Zuko said, taking Sokka's lead and sitting down on a small outcropping of ice. "You?"

"Same," the other boy said simply, breathing out a long, thin cloud of pale vapor. "Nightmare."

The single word put every muscle in Zuko's body on edge faster than he thought possible.

"What was it about?" he asked slowly, trying to disguise his own anxiety. Seeing the pointed look on Sokka's face as he turned to face him was enough to tell Zuko that he'd failed.

"My sister," he answered just as slowly. "Why?"

_Do not dismiss your dreams,_ Iroh had told Zuko once when he'd been younger, _and be even more attentive to your nightmares. In sleep, the mind draws closer to the Spirit World than it ever can while awake… and the spirits are restless things._

"I was afraid you'd say that," the prince said, his eyes darkening. "That's what mine was about, too."

Sokka was silent for several moments at that, his blue eyes both focused and unreadable as he looked up at the moon, face lined in thought.

"Do you think something's gonna happen to her?" he asked at last, and Zuko shook his head.

"No," he answered at once. When Sokka looked over at him with an arched eyebrow, Zuko smiled. "Because I'm not going to let it," he finished, and Sokka grinned.

"Good answer," he said brightly. "You know, for a member of the Fire Nation royal family, you're not half-bad."

"Uh… thanks?" the prince said uncertainly, and Sokka laughed, pulling a pouch off of a hook at his waist as he did so.

"I'm just messing with ya," he said lightly, reaching into the pouch and pulling out two pieces of seal jerky. Still smiling, he offered one to Zuko. "Here."

"Thanks," Zuko said again, this time genuinely. If that had been a test, it would appear he'd passed it.

"Sorry about whacking you so hard the other day," Sokka spoke up after a few moments of silence. "My mom still hasn't let me hear the end of it—and somehow, I don't think she ever will."

Zuko laughed, tearing off a large bite of jerky.

"I think it's your sister you should be watching out for," he said. "She looked like she was going to bite your head off when she was healing me."

"Why am I not surprised," Sokka grumbled, taking a hearty chunk out of the jerky and chewing on it with enough fervor to make Zuko think it had insulted him somehow. A few more minutes passed in amiable silence, the two of them eating their jerky as the specters of their nightmares slowly faded away, before Sokka spoke again.

"So," he said, the tone of his voice grabbing Zuko's attention immediately, "do you really think you'll do it?"

"Do what?"

Sokka looked over at the prince like he'd just asked what color the water was.

"Marry my sister."

The question gave Zuko pause, to say the least: at first, the idea of marriage had been more a duty than a desire—and truth be told, a few days ago the prince would have been relieved if Katara had flat-out snubbed him and ended the whole thing right then and there.

But now? Now, the idea was becoming more and more entrenched in Zuko's mind, to the point that he hadn't even considered the possibility of it _not_ happening until Sokka had brought it up.

And if those kisses that the prince had shared with her had meant as much to Katara as they had to him, well… Zuko was becoming more and more certain by the day what her answer to the question would be, when he asked it.

"If she says yes," he answered at last. "Is that a problem?"

"What? No; not at all," Sokka was quick to reply, shaking his head. "As long as you can keep her safe once she's in the Fire Nation, that is," he added pointedly, fixing the prince with sharp blue eyes.

"I will," Zuko said with unmistakable conviction. Then he smiled. "But I don't think she'll need that much protecting."

"Yeah," Sokka allowed with a smile, "probably not. Here," he said, tossing Zuko a small skin of water. "Have some."

The prince accepted the skin with a nod of thanks, lifting it up and waterfalling a gulp before stopping it back up and tossing it back to Sokka, who did the same.

"Well," the Water Tribe boy said as he rose, "I think I'm gonna try and grab some more shut-eye before sunrise."

"Good idea," Zuko said, getting up as well and following Sokka back towards the village. He stopped briefly in his tracks when he thought he heard a sound, but after a few moments of silence he kept walking.

"If something happens—"

"It won't," Sokka cut in, his voice firm.

"But if it does," the prince persisted, knowing to expect the absolute worst when it came to his father, "I want you to know that it would be an honor to fight beside you."

"The feeling's mutual, Zuko," Sokka said with a smile, clapping him on the shoulder. "No one I'd rather have watching my back against Firebenders than another Firebender, after all."

"I said 'fight beside you'," Zuko clarified dryly. "Not 'babysit you'. Holding your ground against a Firebender is just as easy as fighting against a non-Bender, if you know what you're doing."

"You mean hitting them until they stop moving?"

The prince let himself chuckle at that, feeling relief as they approached their hut and the shards of his nightmare didn't coalesce to haunt him again.

"See you tomorrow," Sokka said as he began to walk towards his room. "If you want a rematch anytime, just say the word."

Zuko smiled.

"I'd rather not get frozen in a wall of ice by your sister again, thanks," he answered, prompting a confused look from Sokka.

"I don't even want to know, man."

* * *

…

…

**A/N:** Whew, the first scene was really tough to write. At least there was some fluff at the end to balance it out, though, and some other d'aww moments besides in the other scenes. So I hope it wasn't too dark overall. There was originally going to be the conclusion of the Lu Ten/Toph/Azula scene in this chapter, but it got too long and so I had to shift it into next week's chapter. Oh well.**  
**

Time to give the weekly shout-outs to all of the new reviewers: **Hiyami, limegreenwordmachine **and **Night-Iris**. Thanks for taking the plunge! A special mention should also be made to **Red Wings**, who didn't review per-se, but sent a very nice PM that was essentially the same thing. So yeah.

Before we get to next week's teaser, I just wanted to mention something I forgot last week. I also owe a big thank-you once again to **Masayume85**, for looking over the first scene of this chapter in particular as quality control. She also looked over last week's chapter, so props for that too. You should go check out her two Zutara-centric one-shots, _Stand in the Rain_ and _Somewhere I __Belong_. They're both solid character studies that I think are well worth your reading time.

So, now onto next week's teaser! Lu Ten, Azula, Toph and Hanzo deal with Ozai's would-be assassins, but Iroh's planned course of action afterward is not what any of them were anticipating. Meanwhile, June arrives in Ba Sing Se and seeks out Jet, but finds that avoiding the Dai Li's suspicion is quite difficult indeed. The next morning, Kya talks to her daughter about the approaching deadline for her decision, and Hanzo and Azula set themselves to their next task. And all the while, the Sea Raven flags are gaining in number...

.

Thanks for reading this far, and I'll see you next week!

**- Jazz**


	16. Declarations

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 16: **Declarations

* * *

The sun had just set over the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se when June found a place to stable Nyla for the night, tipping the old man generously in return for his silence. Making sure that the hood of her cloak was firmly in place and kept her face covered from anyone who might even think they recognized her, June set out into the teeming nightlife of the Earth Kingdom capitol.

The task of finding one person in the midst of the entire Upper Ring would normally be next to impossible. But luckily for June, Jet was an agent of the Dai Li, albeit an undercover one. All she had to do was keep out of sight, follow the stoic bastards in their stupid pointy hats, and hope that the feral-looking kid she'd met once all those years ago hadn't changed much with the passing of time.

_Brushing thoughts of Lu Ten out of her mind for the moment, the bounty hunter made her way through the labyrinthine halls of the Fire Nation royal palace looking for Lady Ursa's private quarters. After finding her main room empty, one of the palace attendants had told June that Ursa used a separate room from the one she shared with her husband as a kind of study, and went there when she preferred to indulge in a moment or two of quiet reflection. _

_The bounty hunter found this other room without much difficulty, thankfully avoiding any more run-ins with high-ranking members of the Fire Nation military. The memory of the brief chat that she and Lu Ten had had with Ozai earlier that morning still made June uncomfortable, the predatory look in the general's amber eyes all-but indelible. _

"_Come in," Ursa's calm voice called out from within the room, and the bounty hunter pushed open the ornate wooden door with a little effort. The other woman was sitting at a small table looking intently at a scroll that was spread out before her, but she quickly rolled it up and set it aside before June could get a good look at its contents. Looking up at her visitor for the first time, Ursa's eyebrows creased in confusion._

"_Lady Ursa," the bounty hunter cut her off before she could say anything, "I was told by the Fire Lord that you wanted a word with me. My name is June."_

_The other woman's suspicion was erased in the blink of an eye, replaced with surprise and a welcoming smile to match it._

"_Oh, I had no idea," Ursa replied, rising to her feet. "Please forgive me."_

"_Don't worry about it," June countered casually, taking a seat across from Ursa and compelling her to sit back down again. "I wouldn't expect you to be able to recognize someone you've never seen before."_

"_Perhaps not seen, no," Ursa allowed with a small smile, "but I have heard a great deal about you, June. And if what my nephew has told me about my son's… military misadventure is true, I owe you a debt I can never repay."_

"_I don't like carrying around debts," the bounty hunter answered. "Too many other things on my mind to worry about them."_

_Ursa's smile grew and her eyes flickered with something like approval._

"_A noble position to take," she said, "and not one that many people share. Still, I make a point of honoring my debts, regardless of whom they're owed to. So, what can I do for you, June?"_

_The bounty hunter took a breath before replying, not sure where this conversation would go once she broke the ice._

"_I need the names of your contacts in Ba Sing Se," she said at last. "The Crown Prince and I ran into Koram Senyaka in Gaoling, and he mentioned you before he died."_

_The mention of Senyaka's name made Ursa's face cloud over instantly, and June was surprised by the sudden change in her demeanor. The warmth and gentleness bled out of her face completely, replaced by a steely calm and guarded expression that reminded the bounty hunter uncannily of Ozai._

"_Koram is dead?" she asked after a tense moment, and June nodded._

"_Your husband sent some of the Yu Yan after us," the bounty hunter explained. "Senyaka was one of their casualties."_

"_A regrettable loss, to be sure," Ursa said with a sigh, her tone heavy. "He was a good man."_

"_Yes, he was," June agreed, forcing down her impatience. "Do you think Ozai knew he was in Gaoling?"_

_The other woman shook her head._

"_No," she said. "That was just a quirk of destiny, nothing else. If my husband knew what I was doing, he would have had me thrown into a dungeon or killed a long time ago."_

_June fought to repress a shudder at the lack of emotion in Ursa's voice; did everyone in a royal family wind up trapped in a loveless marriage? Or was it just that her husband was an absolutely terrible person?_

"_So then, I take it you knew Koram?" Ursa broke back into the bounty hunter's thoughts, and June nodded._

"_I was a member of the Earth King's royal guard, once upon a time," she replied. "Senyaka took me in and trained me after the military decided they didn't want a woman rising higher than Corporal."_

"_Idiots," Ursa snorted disdainfully, her amber eyes hard. "Then again, I suppose their low opinion of our gender does have its advantages. We are forever the last ones to be suspected of anything as complex as court intrigue, after all."_

_June felt her respect for Ursa rising by the moment; how she managed to keep the two apparent sides of herself so distinct was something the bounty hunter would have to learn before too long._

"_Lu Ten wants you to go to Ba Sing Se for him, doesn't he?" the other woman continued, as perceptive as Senyaka had led June to believe she was. "To take care of Long Feng for good, while the Crown Prince stays here and waits for my husband to act on his own?"_

_June smiled._

"_And I assume the Fire Nation military doesn't allow women positions of importance, either?"_

"_Oh, they do," Ursa said casually, a gleam in her eye. "But this is a much more comfortable path to take to the same destination."_

_She unrolled the scroll again and showed it to June: it was the last message Senyaka had sent to her before getting murdered. _

"_These are the names of the agents we left behind in Ba Sing Se, once Kuei took the throne," Ursa explained, motioning at the scroll. "All of them are still bitter with Long Feng's takeover. Once you get to Ba Sing Se, find them and use them to bring down both the Grand Secretariat and his Dai Li."_

June fought back a shiver as a blast of cold air rushed through the street, hoping that Jet, when she found him, would know where to look for the people Ursa had mentioned from the scroll. Going up against someone like Long Feng and surviving would require luck, a group of dependable allies and a bit of insanity; the bounty hunter figured she had the first and last items on that list locked down, but the second would be a good deal trickier.

She had stopped over at a stand to get a skewer of stir-fried meat when the sight of those stupid pointy hats passed through her peripheral vision; throwing what she was sure had to be at least twice as much money as was owed down on the counter, June tore a bite out of the meat and followed in the Dai Li's shadows. There was someone with them who wasn't wearing their typical uniform, instead clad in a simple pair of trousers, a shirt capped off with armored shoulder pads and carrying two hookswords on his back. When he glanced over toward a pretty girl as the Dai Li walked past, his face caught on the light of a nearby lantern and June knew she'd found whom she was looking for.

A few moments later, June noticed a tall, slender girl decked out in the burgundy and gold of the Fire Nation walk past the Dai Li agents, being tailed close behind by a group of thugs. The bounty hunter thought about stepping in to intervene, but Jet beat her to the punch.

"I know I've seen that one somewhere before," he said quietly, chewing thoughtfully on the stalk of wheat in his mouth. "Some kind of dignitary's daughter from the Fire Nation, or something. Either way, she's breaking curfew for foreign visitors. Let's go, boys."

Jet and the Dai Li moved with seamless stealth and efficiency, June still following in their wake as silent as the shadows she slipped among.

"I'm only saying this because I'm in a good mood," the girl from the Fire Nation said, "and I'm only going to say it once: just give it up and leave, and I won't make you limp home."

The bounty hunter was impressed with the girl's poise, but it was only after one of the muggers tried to mouth off and got a knife buried in his hand for it that June straightened up and took notice. The rest of the thugs were on the ground before they could so much as retaliate, and Jet's mouth curved into a wide smile.

"I remember now," he said with satisfaction. "That's Mai, the banker's daughter. I always thought she was hiding something, but _damn_." He moved silently into the street itself, flanked by the Dai Li. It took a great effort on June's part not to snap the necks of the one that waited behind for further orders, but she managed. Barely.

Jet exchanged some ridiculously cocky small-talk with Mai, and June had to bite back a sigh at the tone the boy was using. Did he seriously think describing himself as a member of Long Feng's secret police kill-squad doubled as a come-on? The final Dai Li agent moved in to silence Mai with a chop to the back of her neck once she'd started talking back to Jet, and June resolved to give him a piece of her mind once he split off from the rest of the Dai Li. He did so a few moments later, after coldly ordering the agents to kill the thugs that had tried to rough Mai up.

"You know, Jet," she said calmly, stepping out of the shadows and taking a bite out of her meat snack as the boy walked by her, mumbling something to himself, "usually guys rescue the girl while she's still conscious. More romantic that way, I guess."

Jet had his hookswords out in a heartbeat, turning to face June with steel in his eyes.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "How do you know my name?"

The bounty hunter took another slow bite out of her meat skewer, her gray eyes alight with laughter as her relaxed posture showed Jet just what she thought of his toothless bluster.

"That almost hurts, really," June said after she'd swallowed the bite and wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand. "I was there when old man Senyaka brought you into the fold, and you don't even remember my name. Classy."

The mention of his former guardian's name changed Jet's whole demeanor in an instant, and he lowered his hookswords as he focused on getting a better look at the stranger's face. When she lowered her hood, his eyes widened in recognition at last.

"June?" he breathed, still incredulous. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a job," the bounty hunter said evenly, wasting no time with preamble. "And you're going to help me with it."

"Am I, now?" Jet shot back a heartbeat later, his guard raised again. "And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because your boss got an arrow shot through his head," June deadpanned, "which makes you dead in the water, unless you decide to pull your head out of your ass and get with the new program."

"Senyaka is dead?"

"Getting an arrow through the skull will do that, last I checked."

Jet frowned, not wanting to believe the bounty hunter's words but having no reason to doubt them, either. In the end he caved with a sigh, sheathing his hookswords altogether.

"So," he said, "what's the new plan, if the old man is gone?"

June didn't reply at first, raising her hood again before turning and walking down an alley instead. Jet cursed and followed her, hating being led on like some greenhorn rookie.

"Senyaka was getting orders from someone in the Fire Nation," the bounty hunter revealed as soon as she was sure they wouldn't be overheard, finishing off her meat skewer at last and idly spinning the wooden stick that remained between her fingers. "I talked to her; she gave me the names of some stay-behind agents she put here when the Fire Nation occupied the city."

"And you think we should find them, use them to get to Long Feng and cut his weasely little head off?"

June smiled.

"I knew there was a reason the old man recruited you," she said. "The Dai Li don't suspect anything, do they?"

"Not at all," Jet assured her, and the bounty hunter nodded.

"Good. C'mon, I'll buy you a drink. We could both use one, actually."

The pair wended their way through the tangle of back alleys that cut through the mercantile heart of Ba Sing Se, with June pulling a scroll out from beneath her cloak and handing it to Jet as they walked.

"What's this?" Jet asked, his voice laced with annoyance as he strained his eyes to read the words on the scroll by means of the moonlight.

"The list of names my source in the Fire Nation gave me," the bounty hunter answered. "Can you tell me anything about them?"

"Yeah," Jet said heavily after a few moments, "I can. All but two of these people are dead. Long Feng's been stepping up his dissidence suppression in a big way lately."

June sighed.

"I was afraid you might say that," she said, closing her eyes in thought for a moment as her feet carried her instinctively along the cobblestones. "We need a new plan, then."

Jet smiled as they approached the end of the alley network, an idea blooming behind his eyes.

"The Earth King's birthday is two days from now," he proposed. "I can get you through the front door, and you can deal with Long Feng however you want."

"Going in alone would be too risky," the bounty hunter countered as the ambient noise of the nightlife emerged again and threatened to drown out her words. "I'd need you to watch my back."

"I couldn't do that," Jet said, shaking his head. "I'm gonna be on security detail. But I can get you a partner, if you want one."

"If you're thinking of Mai," June replied, staying close to her companion to avoid shouting over the crowd, "let me do the talking. I don't think she'll be wanting to see much of you after tonight."

Jet frowned and opened his mouth to retort, but before any words had come out the bounty hunter was already walking towards a nearby tavern.

"I can't believe this place is still around," June said as she moved towards the large building, its sign advertising it as Oino's. "I used to come here all the time. Best 'Sake Bombs' in the whole Earth Kingdom."

Jet grimaced.

"You like those? They make me want to vomit."

June shrugged as she pushed the wooden door open and stepped inside.

"No accounting for taste."

The tavern was surprisingly well-lit and spacious, and felt much more welcoming than many of the bars Jet had been forced to stake out on spying and eavesdropping missions for Long Feng. They got two seats at the bar with no problems, and it wasn't long until the bartender came over, recognized June when she lowered her hood again, and gave her a beaming paternal smile.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite perpetual Corporal, come home to roost," he said jovially, clapping the bounty hunter on the shoulder. "I thought you'd died when the Siege broke through, kid. Why didn't you write?"

"Ran out of ink a long time ago, Oino," June said with a smile as she sat down and ordered beer spiked with rice wine, while Jet contented himself with a plain old beer. "How've you been?"

"Eh, same old; same old," the proprietor said offhandedly. "My little brat's old enough to help me run the place now, though; he convinced me to turn some of the old storage rooms upstairs into guest rooms for rent. You're more than welcome to one if you'll be staying here for a while, of course," he added with another smile and a gleam in his eye. "On the house."

"Thanks," June said, glad for the hospitality. She knew Oino would never make her pay a copper piece for anything after the favors she'd done for his family over the years, but kindness was still appreciated all the same.

The drinks were served, and the bounty hunter had the cup at her lips before her eyes widened at an unexpected thought. She did a little calculation in her head and quickly put the cup back down on the bar, biting her tongue to keep every single curse word she knew from tumbling out of her mouth at once. Leaving Jet at the bar without another word, June stalked up the stairs to the closest vacant guest room and slammed the door behind her.

Jet watched her go, puzzled, before finishing his drink and rising.

"Hey," a sharp voice called out from his right, "where do you think you're going? Pay first."

Jet looked over and shot a sneer to the kid who had spoken.

"Just put it on her tab, guy."

"She doesn't have a tab," the kid insisted, his green eyes unyielding. "You do. Pay up."

Jet considered just beating the twerp up and dashing… before he realized how much he looked like Oino. Fairly sure that beating up the owner's son was a quick way to guarantee he got both of his legs snapped like kindling, Jet swallowed a snarl and put money down on the bar. He stormed out of the tavern grumbling something about never trusting a bounty hunter, leaving Oino and his son looking thoroughly amused.

* * *

Hanzo made his way toward the library one falsely limping step at a time, pointedly ignoring the alternately pitying and mildly horrified looks he got from people as he walked by them. The branded prince found himself wondering if any of the people he passed were Long Feng's sleeper agents, but he pushed the thought from his mind as he figured that he'd know whom the assassins were soon enough.

Thoughts of Azula rushed in to fill the void, and Hanzo smiled. How many people had seen past her veils, like he had? How many people had even bothered to try? He remembered the look in her eyes after he'd finished telling her his story, and the feeling of relief that had rushed through him when he'd realized there was finally someone who could empathize with him.

And then that _kiss_…

Hanzo wasn't quite sure he'd even gotten over it yet. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel a faint trace of her lips against his, and the warmth they carried with them. It was a sensation the branded prince could get used to; of that much, he was more than certain.

But it wasn't just the physical side of their relationship that sent him over the moon and back again. The possibility that he might be able to wake up in the morning and not be alone— that he would finally be able to feel the sense of companionship that had been so far out of reach his whole life— it now seemed as close to a 'sure thing' as he'd ever had. And if Azula was willing to be that source of comfort for him, then Hanzo would fight until his last breath to make sure she safely weathered whatever storm might come for them. And if it was Ozai who would be the force of nature behind that storm, the branded prince knew it would be quite the tempest indeed.

She was worth it, though.

Forcing himself to derail that train of thought before his forced limp was replaced by an insufferably cheerful, light step, Hanzo refocused himself on the task at hand. A few more minutes and he was at the massive barrier that separated the library from the rest of the palace, and the iron doors parted with a single hard shove. The rest of the staff knew him and didn't pay his passing any mind, letting the branded prince walk over to the 'Ancient Languages' section of the library completely un-harassed.

Hanzo had requested that this be the site of the dead-drop he'd established with general Ozai. Not only because no one ever bothered coming back here, but also because it was one of his favorite places to spend time. He'd always felt that being able to read ancient texts that other people couldn't decipher in the slightest let him in on one huge secret, and there was nothing more satisfying than knowing a good secret. The language of the Fire Sages was his favorite: an old dialect that had apparently been passed down to the religious order by the dragons themselves, if the stories were to be believed.

It was unspoken— or at least Hanzo had never been able to make any phonetic sense of the characters himself— but each glyph was a work of art, beautiful and complex and capable of conveying so much meaning in such a small package that was almost mind-boggling.

It was in one of the Fire Sages' old codices on the dragons' history that the branded prince found the note from Ozai. The fresh velum stood out in stark contrast to the aging, yellowing scroll it had been concealed in, and Hanzo wasted no time in reading it. The words were terse and sharp—even though it was unsigned, the branded prince could hear the general reciting it in his head as his dark green eyes passed over the words.

_Xian: By the time you read this, Long Feng's assassins will already be waking up. The man who looks after the scrolls on Fire Nation agriculture is one of them. Go to him, mention me, and he will give you further instructions. See to it that the Dragon of the North doesn't witness another sunrise._

Hanzo folded the letter up carefully and put it safe inside his tunic; he knew this was likely to be the only piece of concrete evidence against Ozai anyone would get their hands on in a long time. The idea that someone else in the library had been one of Long Feng's moles sent a chill deep through the branded prince; he'd been here for almost half of his life, and he'd never suspected that any of the people he worked with could be sleeper agents.

But then again, Hanzo thought ruefully as he walked, that was why they were what they were.

The man Ozai had mentioned in his note was perfectly innocuous at first glance, but now that he knew what to look for Hanzo could tell that something had changed within him. It was a subtle shift, but just enough to be noticeable. The branded prince inwardly kicked himself for being so blind as to miss what had been sitting right in front of him this whole time. But all the same, he did take some small comfort in the knowledge that this man hadn't really known who he really was, either, until he'd been pulled out of his hypnosis-induced slumber.

"Can I help you, Xian?" the agent asked at last, and Hanzo snapped himself out of his thoughts at the question.

"Yeah, I think you can," he said shortly, determined not to spend any more time here than was absolutely necessary. "General Ozai sent me. We have a job to do."

The agent's demeanor changed in an instant: he went from completely on alert to skeptical that the kid in front of him was even in on Ozai's scheme at all.

"I suppose we do," he said slowly at last, still looking over Hanzo like he couldn't believe what was right in front of his eyes. "Why'd the General get _you_ involved in this?"

The branded prince shrugged, determined to keep his trump card hidden until the last possible moment.

"We all have our roles to play," he demurred. "Me, I was the one who made sure the Princess did what she was supposed to do."

"Azula?" the other man said with just a hint of suspicion, and Hanzo got the sinking feeling that Ozai had told him to be on guard for anything that seemed like a lie. "Wasn't she supposed to be with you?"

"There was a change of plans," the branded prince fielded smoothly, beginning to walk away and hoping that it would force the agent to follow him and shut up. Unfortunately, it only worked halfway.

"A 'change of plans'?" he echoed pointedly as he followed Hanzo, his eyes searching. "What makes you think you can just go and change the General's plans however you feel like, kid? Do you know how long we've been waiting for this operation to happen?"

"Less time than I've been slaving away here," Hanzo countered, narrowing his one visible eye and not giving any ground. "And to answer your other annoyingly pointless question, Azula and I decided she would be more useful as an advance scout, so I sent her ahead. Lu Ten trusts her, and she'll be able to soften him up for us."

"Why would she need to waste her time doing that? There'll be ten of us, including Azula, and just one of him."

"And you think fighting the ten of us would be scarier than facing down a dragon? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

The other man scoffed.

"That title's just ceremonial," he said. "The Crown Prince didn't kill a dragon, and neither did his father. They were all dead when Azulon was still sitting on the throne."

Hanzo shrugged as the two of them left the library, on their way to rally the rest of the assassins.

"All I know is that Azulon didn't do anything trivial his whole life," the branded prince replied easily, "and I don't think he'd start by handing out unearned titles and honorifics."

"It's not like it even matters," the other man said, an edge of annoyance creeping back into his voice. "Dragon or not, Lu Ten is just one man," he repeated, sounding to Hanzo like he was working particularly hard to convince himself and not quite succeeding.

"And he won't even be that, once Azula gets done drugging him," he encouraged. "Honestly, I think ten guys will be overkill."

"It's a good thing you're not running the show then, Xian."

Hanzo let it go at that, knowing himself well enough to understand that if he kept talking to this man, he would snap his neck long before they ever got to Lu Ten's room… which would give rise to some awkward questions the branded prince would rather not have to deal with.

The rest of the collection of assassins was a surprisingly varied group, and Hanzo couldn't help but wonder what rocks Long Feng had dug all of them out from under. By the time all seven of them had been gathered together and the band had grown to nine, the branded prince was glad that it was only a short trip from where they were to the crown prince's chambers—if their motley crew had been seen roaming the halls for any longer than that, the palace guards would be all over them.

Fortunately for them, the guards that normally hung around Lu Ten's room were conspicuously absent, making a quiet approach simple.

Unfortunately for them, that was entirely by the crown prince's own design.

Hanzo made a point of stepping down hard on one of the assassins' feet as the group neared the door, causing the squat man to yelp out in anger and pain. He muffled it quickly, but the damage had been done. The whole crew looked at the branded prince with hatred in their eyes, and Hanzo decided to play it up for all it was worth. What were they gonna do; kill him?

"Calm down; he's probably asleep now anyway. And there're nine of us— let's just do this."

Toph smirked as she heard the muffled voice come in through the wall, getting up from her seat and readying herself for the fight that would begin any moment now.

"Smart guy, your boyfriend," she said quietly to Azula, who just glared at her. "Tipping us off like that."

"Shut up," the princess hissed, "and let me focus."

A heartbeat later, the door was opened and the would-be assassins found themselves face to face with three very awake, very alert and very, very angry opponents.

"Whoops," Hanzo said, reaching for the sword at his waist as his eye widened in feigned surprise. "Looks like I was wrong."

Before the hapless assassins could even register that they'd been betrayed, three of them were already dead. The branded prince's sword gutted one of them like a fish in a single flash of steel, a ball of blue fire caught another one of them full in the face, and a bolt of lightning lanced right into the heart of the third man, killing him instantly. Hanzo moved to the side to give the Firebenders room to work, and the limiting barrier of the doorframe made the task easier than breathing.

One of the assassins, the squat, vicious-looking man with the now-sore foot, made it through the entrance alive by using one of his comrade's corpses as a shield. He wasted no time in barreling toward the nearest target like a feral animal, which happened to be Azula. The princess slammed a burning fist into his gut, but it wasn't enough to stop him from drawing a knife and slashing up toward her throat in his dying moments.

A spike of stone pierced his side and finished what Azula had started, and the knife cut along the princess's upper arm rather than across her jugular. She hissed in pain, but it was nothing near a fatal wound.

"Thank you," she said, looking over at the Earthbender. Toph just shrugged.

"Don't mention it," she said, before turning her attention to the last remaining assassin. "Let's wrap this up, shall we?"

"Not so fast, Toph," Lu Ten spoke up, dropping a lifeless body he was holding onto the ground as he did so. "Take this one alive."

"Never!" the final assassin shouted with foolish bravado, running headlong towards the Dragon of the North. The crown prince sighed and sent an almost dismissively casual arc of flame out at the man with a single flick of his wrist, and the assassin slumped lifeless to the ground with a pathetic gurgle as his last gasp of life struggled to pass through his scorched throat.

"I told you they would never surrender, cousin," Azula said tersely. "Trust me next time."

"I do," Lu Ten assured her, "but it was worth a shot." He saw the wound on the outside of her bicep just as Hanzo walked into the room, his sword red with blood.

"You're hurt," the crown prince said, but the princess just shook her head.

"It's nothing more than a scratch," Azula insisted, but Hanzo had already crossed the room and was tearing off part of his robe that had been cut by a dagger.

"Liar," he said softly but intently, before taking her arm in his hands gently and wrapping the improvised burgundy tourniquet around her wound. It darkened with blood and Hanzo flinched, feeling guilt snake around in his gut. He should have killed that short bastard before the door had even been opened, rather than just stepping on his foot. Damn it.

Toph smiled at the scene in front of her and opened her mouth to make a wisecrack, before she thought better of it and stopped. There was no fun in going for jokes when they made it this easy, anyway.

Lu Ten waited until Azula's partner in crime had finished seeing to her wound before he cleared his throat, and had to bite back a smile as his cousin stepped away from the young man like he'd burned her.

"So, you're the inside man my cousin was telling me about?"

He nodded.

"I am, your Highness."

"Save the formalities," Lu Ten replied. "Thank you for your help with those scumbags—if you and Azula hadn't been on our side, I'm sure Toph and I would be dead right now."

"It was nothing; really," the green-eyed young man countered, before reaching into the folds of his clothing and producing the note Ozai had written him. "I owe your family a far greater debt than I could ever repay."

"Do you, now?" the crown prince asked, as he took the note and looked Azula's partner in the eye. The resemblance to King Zhou that he saw there was impossible to miss, and suddenly Senyaka's cryptic comment about a 'weapon' that would make all the difference against Long Feng was finally dragged into the light.

But now wasn't the time for such things; as Lu Ten's sharp amber eyes read over the note, he recognized his uncle's penmanship and frowned.

"My father needs to see this," he said, his voice a half-growl. "All of you; come with me."

The crown prince walked quickly out of the room, and the remaining trio hurried to keep his pace. As they passed by a palace attendant, Lu Ten turned to face him and spoke.

"Get a few people down to my chambers and haul the corpses out of there. I don't want it to smell like death when I go to sleep tonight."

"… Corpses, my Lord?" the man echoed, confused. "What happened?"

But Lu Ten was already ten paces away, leaving it to Azula to answer.

"Just get it done!"

Hanzo saw the princess tense in discomfort as her injury sent another spike of pain down her arm, and he felt his guilt deepen.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Dragging yourself through the mud," Azula clarified, glaring at him. "It's tedious and annoying."

"How did you—?" the branded prince began to ask, before the princess cut him off with a look.

"Because I can read you like a book," she answered bluntly. "And if you start brooding every time something happens to me, I'm going to strangle you."

Hanzo smiled at that.

"I can think of worse ways to die," he teased lightly, and Azula just shook her head.

"You're ridiculous. Why do I keep you around, again?"

"Beats me," Hanzo said with a shrug, before he glanced at her with laughter in his eyes. "Must be my boundless charm."

The princess snorted indelicately, and was about to say something when Toph did it for her.

"Jeez; just get a room, you two!"

Azula faced forward again and stared daggers into the Earthbender's back, and Hanzo had to fight back a chuckle.

"I hate her," the princess seethed, and said nothing more until the four of them had reached the Fire Lord's throne room.

Lu Ten was ready to order everyone out, until he saw that the only other people in the great hall were his father and Admiral Jeong Jeong. Stopping himself, the crown prince made his way in front of the throne and bowed.

"My Lord," he said shortly. "I apologize for the interruption."

"No need for that," Iroh told his son. "I was just finishing up this discussion with Admiral Jeong Jeong. It appears Admiral Chan had no idea about the Yu Yan being used in an attack against you."

"Of course he didn't," Lu Ten replied, unable to keep all of the bitterness from his voice as he held his uncle's note out for the Fire Lord to see. "Read that, father."

Iroh took the note and read over it, once; twice; three times, his frown deepening with each review.

"I wish I could say this was unbelievable," he said at last, "but that would be a lie. Still," the Fire Lord continued calmly, absently stroking his beard, "this is… curious."

"'Curious'?" Azula repeated sharply, incredulous. "What about that is curious? It's obvious Ozai wrote it!"

"And that, Azula," Iroh said placatingly from his seat on the throne, "is precisely why it is curious. My brother would never treat something as serious as this so carelessly, unless he had a reason for it. Why did he write it in his own hand, if he knew even the slightest chance existed I might see it? Why wouldn't he just dictate it to someone else, and then have them silenced?

"Because this is bait," he finished forcefully, the fire behind him flaring up briefly. "He is trying to draw me out into the open, where he will then attempt to kill me."

"Fuck that," Toph interjected, her sightless eyes narrowing. "We've got your back, your Lordship. Just say the word."

Iroh sighed, inwardly saddened that the next generation seemed so determined to take up arms in defense of the old fools who had kept the embers of hatred burning for so long.

"You will do nothing," he told the stubborn Earthbender. "The same goes for you, Azula, and you, young man," he finished, gesturing to Hanzo. "This burden is mine to bear, and mine alone."

"No," the princess said forcefully. "If you try to fight him, you'll die!"

"You can't stop us from helping you," Toph agreed, "and that's that."

Iroh sighed again; somehow, he'd known it would turn out like this.

"Yes, I can," he said tiredly, raising his hand. The Imperial Firebenders appeared from within the shadows of the throne room a heartbeat later, and the Fire Lord's elite guard didn't hesitate to surround the trio.

"What are you _doing_?" Azula snarled, looking like she might go as far as to challenge twenty of the most powerful Firebenders on the planet. "Are you insane? Do you _want_ to die?"

"Enough, Azula!" the Fire Lord shouted, rising to his feet as the flames behind him crackled and roared. "I won't let you risk your life for my sake. I'm placing the three of you under arrest until this matter with my brother is settled. For your own safety."

Toph seriously considered fighting back. But when she felt that Lu Ten was refraining from taking sides, and that both Jeong Jeong and Iroh himself would likely step in if they had to, the Earthbender just shook her head in frustration.

"You're making a huge mistake!" she called out as the Imperial Firebenders led her out of the throne room, alongside a silent Hanzo and a furious Azula.

Admiral Jeong Jeong bowed and took his leave without another word. Father and son faced each other in silence as the Fire Lord retook his seat, the flames behind him vanishing altogether. He sighed again, and it pained Lu Ten to see how weary he looked in that moment.

"You have no orders for me?" he asked at last, and the Fire Lord shook his head.

"You are my son, and as a parent I feel compelled to protect you," Iroh answered. "But you are also the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and when my spirit has gone into the next world this throne will belong to you. If I cannot trust you to act rightly now, then I have failed you terribly."

Lu Ten nodded gravely.

"Then I hope you will respect my decision not to let you face Ozai alone, father," he said. "That man has no honor— and if he really is expecting you to fight him as you said, I am positive he'll use trickery to ensure a victory."

Iroh felt his heart breaking, but in the end he bowed his head. If this was what destiny had intended for them, then so be it.

"Get some rest, for now," the Fire Lord told the crown prince. "We will deal with my brother tomorrow."

Lu Ten thought about protesting, but he knew that if his father dueled with Ozai now, his defeat was all but certain. They both needed their rest, even if it would give the general more time to prepare.

"As you command," he said with a bow, before leaving the throne room.

When he was alone at last, Iroh sat back in his throne and meditated in silence. As he felt the weight of his own fate on his shoulders, the Fire Lord couldn't help but wonder how he had given his own brother cause to hate him so viciously.

* * *

Katara heard a muffled yawn and looked up from her plate, expecting to see her brother standing there. Instead, she was greeted by the sight of her mother, looking like she'd just rolled out of bed. And in fact, the Waterbender noted, she _was_ still wearing her pajamas.

"Hey, mom," she said in between sips of the green tea that had been made from their quickly-dwindling stores of imports from the Fire Nation. But as luck would have it, the next shipment was due to arrive tonight. "How'd you sleep?"

"Quite well, thanks," Kya answered, taking a seat across from her daughter. "You?"

Katara shrugged.

"Can't complain."

The two of them were quiet as they ate, the unspoken topic of conversation hanging so thick in the air between them it was almost visible in the morning sunlight.

"So," Kya finally said. "It's almost time."

"Yep."

"Have you two talked about it at all?"

A pause for a bite of food.

"Not really, no."

"You should probably do that," her mother replied flatly. "Your father's going to start pressing the issue soon."

"I know," Katara deflected. "I was just waiting for him to ask the question."

"You were wai—wait a second," Kya amended, her eyes narrowing as a sly smile began to spread across her daughter's face. "You _were_ waiting for him to ask you? Do you mean—?"

"'Morning," a voice broke sleepily into the conversation, and Kya knew exactly who it was just by the sight of her daughter's smile widening.

"Good morning, Zuko," Katara said brightly, the look on her face and tone of her voice waking Zuko up instantly and putting him decidedly on edge. "We were just talking about you."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," he said warily, taking a seat next to Kya and looking over at the Waterbender. Katara's face was suddenly the picture of innocence, setting off the rest of the alarm bells in the back of Zuko's head that weren't already ringing away.

"Are you all right?" she asked a little too earnestly. "You don't look like you slept well last night."

"I didn't," the prince answered. "I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to get back to sleep, but it didn't happen."

"Well," Katara said casually, "maybe if you'd spent more time trying to do that and less time jabbering with my brother, you wouldn't be so tired right now."

"We didn't—" Zuko started to argue, before he realized what the girl across from him had just said.

"Wait…" he forced out past a small lump in his throat a few heartbeats later, "does that mean you—"

"Yes."

The prince slowly turned pale as the color drained from his face. It felt like someone was tightening his chest in a vise as Katara got up from her seat and walked around the table towards him, getting closer and closer with each passing heartbeat.

"But… that means you heard…" Zuko managed to get out, before the feeling of a warm hand running through his unbound hair stilled his tongue.

"Weren't you listening to me, Zuko?" Katara whispered in his ear, her voice both teasing and tender. "I said _yes_."

The Waterbender stepped back and walked away without another word, humming something under her breath. The prince sat in his chair, stunned into silence, until the feeling of an arm wrapping around his shoulders pulled Zuko back to the present.

"Congratulations," Kya said warmly, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead that the prince barely felt. Zuko looked over at her slowly as he regained his bearings, and a few heartbeats later a look of mingled relief, awe and surprise came flooding into his face.

"She said yes," he said softly, rising to his feet and looking down at Kya again. "She said yes," he repeated, stronger this time, as a smile shone in his eyes. Then Zuko laughed out loud, his happiness plain across his face, before turning around and following in Katara's wake.

"_She said yes!"_

Zuko could barely feel his own footfalls as he walked quickly back to his room. His hands shaking slightly, he opened the drawer of the small table near his bedside and took out the betrothal necklace he'd put there for safekeeping. After mouthing silent thanks to his mother, the prince left his room and hurried over to Katara's, his heart hammering almost as fast as his thoughts were racing.

He reached the canvas barrier and stopped, taking a moment to catch his breath. He was fine. He could do this. He wasn't going to fumble it. It would all go fine…

"Oh, just get in here, Zuko!" an impatient voice called out to the prince, and all the tension bled out of him in an instant. He shook his head and smiled, taking one last breath before pushing aside the canvas and walking into the room. Katara was standing in the middle of it, her profile visible as she looked over at a mirror that stood against the wall.

The prince walked slowly towards the Waterbender, coming up behind her and looking over her shoulder into the mirror. Taking one more step forward, he took his cue from Katara and leaned so that his lips were next to her ear.

"I have something for you," he whispered, still smiling. "Would you like to see it?"

"I'd love to," Katara said, her breath catching in her throat as Zuko brought out the ruby necklace, brushed some of her hair aside and fastened it around her neck, all with a gentleness she'd never felt from him before.

"It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you think so," he breathed, shifting his hands down to rest on her shoulders. "But not as glad as I am that you accepted it."

"Well," the Waterbender said lightly as she leaned back into the prince's chest and looked up into his amber eyes, "I think it's fair to say I could've done a lot worse than you, your highness."

Zuko chuckled at that, tilting his head down and sealing the betrothal with a kiss. When the pair broke apart a few long moments later, they looked at one anther as if they were seeing each other for the first time.

"I could get used to this," Zuko said, breaking the silence and flashing a smile that was equally elated and mischievous—a gesture Katara was quick to return.

"Right back at you," she said, taking the lead this time and kissing him again. The embrace lasted for a few languorous seconds, until the two of them became aware that someone else was standing in the room. They broke apart quickly, turning as they did so to face whomever the visitor was. Expecting it to be Hakoda, the pair were stone-faced…

Until they realized that the one who had barged in on them was none other than Lyra. She was wide-eyed, with a huge grin on her face and the faintest dusting of color in her ruddy cheeks.

"I knew it!" she half-shouted, her voice high with glee. "I _knew_ it! This is so awesome! Sokka owes me a sack of silver coins! _Silver!_"

The girl had dashed from the room before Katara or Zuko could say so much as a word, leaving the couple looking at each other with thoroughly puzzled expressions.

"That would explain why Sokka wanted to know about the two of us last night," the prince said at last, not sure whether to laugh or be annoyed. "Can you believe they had a running bet?"

"Actually," the Waterbender replied with a tired smile, "I can. Quite easily."

Katara yawned widely, shaking her head and taking a few steps toward her bed before flopping down on top of it. Zuko shook his head; clearly, he wasn't the only one who'd burnt the candle at both ends last night. Waiting until his fiancée had started snoring softly, the prince gently shifted her sleeping form back underneath the coverlet. He smiled as Katara snuggled deeper into her pillow with a contented sigh, but the smile quickly turned into a yawn.

Zuko had walked to the canvas door before he reconsidered, turning around and walking back over to the Waterbender's bed. Kicking his shoes off and shrugging out of the light jacket he'd been wearing, Zuko scooted into bed next to Katara. He wrapped his arms gently around her waist, rested his head next to hers on the pillow and closed his eyes slowly, comforted by her warmth next to him.

This time, his sleep was untroubled by nightmares.

* * *

…

…

**A/N:** Man! I have been waiting to drop that Zutara scene on you guys since Chapter 1, and now it's finally here. I hope it was worth all the slow-burn build up! And a quick note on chronology, for those who might be puzzled: the night that June gets to Ba Sing Se is the same night depicted in Mai's POV scene at the end of Chapter 13. The rest of the events of this chapter happen during the late evening of the same night that Zuko and Sokka are outside talking about Katara, except for the Zutara scene at the end, which happens the morning after. I hope that made some sense.

Now, before we get to the new reviewer thank-yous, it's 'Really good fanfic shout-out' time. If I have a pulpit, I'ma preach from it. I recently had the awesome experience of reading **5 Years** by **Em Dixon**, which is far and away the best character study of Azula I have read so far on this site. If any of you out there are Azula fans and want to see her explored in all of her twisted, tragic, beautiful complexity, then read this story. It's awesome, and it's criminal that it has as little feedback as it does. Savor it; love it; review it.

Also, if you want to read an absolutely fantastically fluffy and comedic Zutara one-shot, you'd have a hard time doing better than **A Matter of Appearances **by **Incognito**. It features some of the best banter dialogue I have read in many a moon, and deserves to be read and enjoyed multiple times. Great stuff. If you enjoy good Zutara and you haven't read it yet, go remedy that ASAP.

Whew. Okay, time for the new reviewer thank-yous! First off, a special mention must be given to **Red Wings**, who, after PMing a review of sorts last week, took the time to go through and review _every single chapter_ of the story so far, which is absolutely awesome. You rock. Also, we have **DemonColours** on board as well. Thanks for reading this far, you guys!

Now I suppose it's time for next week's teaser. It's a doozy of a chapter, ladies and gentlemen. As to avoid spoilers, I'll simply say this:

Everything goes to hell.

.

Once again, thank you so much for reading this far, and I'll see you next Saturday!

**- Jazz**


	17. Shatterpoint

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 17: **Shatterpoint

* * *

"This sucks!"

The exclamation was quickly followed by the sound of feet and fists stomping and punching against unforgiving metal, and Hanzo waited for the Earthbender's outburst to die down before calling out to her.

"Go to sleep, Toph," he said, exhaustion and exasperation weighing down his voice. "There's no way any of us can break out of these cells. Just stop trying."

"No way," Toph spat back, loud enough to make sure that her voice carried over to both Hanzo and Azula's separate steel cells. "Earthbenders are the best there is at breaking stuff, and I'm the best Earthbender alive. I'm gonna tear this wall down, one way or another."

The hammering noise started up again a moment later. Azula fought back a scream as she tried to tune out the abrasive sound, irritated as much by Toph's stubbornness as she was by her own inability to escape this damn cell. The metal that surrounded her was completely fireproof, and the bars that covered the one opening in the door prevented anything from slipping through them that was wider than her fingers. The princess tried again anyway, sending a large plume of flame out from her fist to slam into the barrier. It barely even left a mark, and the concussive force of the blast didn't draw anything more than a meager groan out of the steel.

"I can't believe this," she hissed, beginning to anxiously pace around as a sense of dread began knotting in the pit of her stomach. "It's absolute madness. Does my uncle seriously think he stands a chance against Ozai? Does he think we can't handle ourselves? How weak does he think I am?"

"It's not that the Fire Lord thinks you are weak, Azula. It's the opposite: he knows how strong you are, and that you would never walk away from a fight once you began it. Your uncle just wants to keep you safe, like I do."

Azula turned at the sound of the familiar voice, only slightly surprised to see Ursa's solicitous amber eyes looking at her through the bars of her cell.

"That's idiotic," the princess said sharply. "He needs all the help he can get, and he locks us up in here? How 'safe' are we going to be after Ozai kills him, and then comes after us? What then?"

"That's not going to happen," her mother said with as much conviction as she could muster, but Azula sensed her hesitation and pounced.

"Don't even try to pull that with me," she snapped. "You've been married to him for almost two whole decades, mother. Look me in the eye _right now_ and tell me to my face that you don't think Ozai would murder his own brother if he got the chance."

Ursa was quiet at that, and the princess let her mouth curl into a vicious smirk that was fueled by all of her anger and fear and self-loathing.

"I thought so."

"Let her be, Azula," Hanzo spoke up, his voice still drawn and weary. "She's just trying to help."

"Some kind of 'help' this is," the princess shot back. "If she really wanted to help, she'd convince the Imperial Firebenders to unlock these doors. And whose side are you on, anyway?" she added, a note of hurt creeping in beneath her malice. "All she has to do is open her mouth, and you leap to her defense!"

The branded prince didn't say anything for a few heartbeats, but when he did break his silence at last, the pain in his voice was plain as day.

"That's not fair," he said, and Azula almost flinched. "You know I'm on your side. That's not going to change; not for anything."

The princess immediately regretted lashing out at Hanzo like she had, and her self-loathing deepened.

"If my cousin dies tonight," she said lowly, directing all of her negative emotion at her mother once more, "I will never forgive you. Ever."

Ursa bowed her head, her eyes closing in sadness.

"I would not expect you to, my child."

She left without another word, and Azula sent jets of blue fire flaring impotently against the walls of her cell. She walked closer and closer with each blast, step by step, until her fists were pounding against the metal— but it still wouldn't budge. The princess sunk to her knees, letting her head rest against the wall. It was only slightly warm, even after all of the fire that had been thrown against it, and Azula didn't know what else to do.

"Pathetic," she hissed at herself, as small tears of rage began falling from the corners of her eyes. "Pathetic."

Toph waited until she was sure Ursa had left before resuming her stomping, furious that he had been put somewhere that she felt truly, totally blind. After so many years of being able to see with her Earthbending, it felt incredibly unnatural to be surrounded by nothing but darkness. She hadn't felt this helpless in a long, long time.

"Would you just stop that?" Azula snarled, interrupting her. "It's not doing anything, and it's driving me crazy!"

"Do you have a better idea, prissy?" Toph replied, letting her own frustration show through in her voice. "Because I'm open for suggestions."

"I might be able to think of one, if you would shut up and let me focus!"

The Earthbender opened her mouth to snap out a reply, but choked it off instead; yelling at Azula would just make her hoarse, and accomplish nothing else. Channeling her anger into something more productive, Toph took a deep, calming breath, raised her foot up again, and brought it down hard onto the steel beneath her.

And she saw.

She saw the chunks of unpurified earth still resting in the metal, glowing like diamonds through the blackness. She could feel them calling out to her through their vibrations, ready and waiting to be bent according to her will.

Toph grinned.

The four Imperial Firebenders ordered to look after the prisoners had trained for years and years to earn their highly coveted spots among the ranks of the Fire Lord's elite guardsmen. Each of them had seen several battles, and one of them even claimed to have fought on the battlefield of Han Tui under the command of Azulon himself. They were veteran soldiers, conditioned to expect anything except the blatantly impossible.

Which was why all four of them were stupefied for a few crucial seconds when the door to the Earthbender's cell was torn open in the middle like it was nothing more than parchment. Before they could even react to what had just happened, columns of stone jutted out from the ground in front of them and slammed into their midsections, winding them and knocking them unconscious.

"Told you I'd do it, didn't I?" Toph called out, grinning once again in triumph. "I told you I was the best Earthbender alive, Azula!"

"What are you jabbering abou—" the princess began, only to be cut off sharply by the sight and sound of her cell door denting, crumpling and tearing down the middle as Toph pulled it apart. Her amber eyes went wide with shock, and it was a moment before she could even form the word stuck in her throat.

"How?"

The Earthbender smirked that insufferably pleased smirk of hers, but for once Azula wasn't angered by it. In fact, she'd never been happier to see the bratty little peasant in her life.

"I'm awesome, that's how," Toph answered, before her smirk turned decidedly mischievous. "Say 'Thank you, Toph', and I'll bust out your boyfriend for you."

The princess's hackles raised at being strung along like this, but she swallowed her pride for the moment. There was no time to play stupid games, not with this much hanging in the balance.

"Thank you, Toph," she said, and the Earthbender nodded in satisfaction.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Azula frowned, glaring at her rival.

"Just shut up and get Hanzo out of his cell."

Toph chuckled and walked over to the final cell, the princess following behind her.

"Hey, Hanzo," she called out, "look alive!"

The Earthbender placed her hands against the steel and flexed them, gripping the metal as it creased before yanking it apart with a telltale creaking groan. The branded prince sprang to his feet at the noise, and wasted no time in walking out into the torchlight.

"Nice," he said to Toph, inclining his head in respect. "I owe you one."

"No problem," she replied, before looking over at the princess next to her. "You should take a cue from him, Azula."

"So," Hanzo cut in bluntly before the two girls could continue arguing, "what's the plan?"

"The two of us will go to the throne room," Azula said firmly, gesturing to Toph. "I know Ozai: if he hasn't already made his move, he's going to before the sun rises."

Hanzo frowned when the princess didn't continue.

"Where does that leave me?" he asked, knowing already that he wouldn't like the answer.

"You're going to pay Commander Zhao a visit," she answered, her expression unyielding. "He's a pawn in this whole thing, but he still might be of use to us. If nothing else, he might know something about the General's plans that we don't."

Hanzo's frown deepened and he opened his mouth to speak, but Azula cut him off before he could say a word.

"You can't stand up to Ozai," the princess said flatly. "Anyone who can't bend doesn't have a prayer against him."

"But—"

"He would kill you," Azula continued, cutting him off again. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"How would Zhao be any different?"

"He won't be suspecting you," she countered, not giving an inch. "You'll be able to incapacitate him easily."

Hanzo looked like he was about to argue the point some more, but reconsidered and nodded. Azula could see the worry in his eyes, and knew that he was seriously considering the possibility that they would never see each other again.

"Azula," he said at last, "I—"

"I know," she interrupted, smiling sadly. "I know."

Hanzo leaned in and kissed her, but it was light, fleeting and over far too soon. He was gone out the door a moment later, leaving the Earthbender and the princess to their own purpose.

"Well," Toph said after a heartbeat, "that was just adorable."

"Shut up," Azula said tersely, frowning. She ran out into the hallway, leaving the Earthbender to follow in her wake.

* * *

Ursa had heard about her daughter's arrest from a palace attendant who had seen the Imperial Firebenders escorting her, Hanzo and the blind girl Lu Ten had brought back from Gaoling over to jail cells for confinement. She had wasted no time in walking towards the Fire Lord's throne room, determined to ask Iroh what exactly he was doing and why he'd ever thought arresting Azula was a good idea.

As it happened, she ran into the answer to her questions not long after she'd left her room.

"My lord husband," Ursa said formally as Ozai turned into the hallway from a passage ahead of her. "This is a pleasant surprise. What are you doing awake at this hour?"

"I should be asking you that same question," the general replied as they began to walk again, his eyes hard and suspicious. "It's not like you to be restless."

"Someone told me that the Fire Lord decided to arrest our daughter and two other people not too long ago, but they didn't explain his reasoning," Ursa answered as they walked. "I'm going to ask him why."

"Isn't that just a lovely little coincidence?" Ozai said, his voice turning subtly acidic. "I'm on my way to visit my brother, as well."

Ursa felt her stomach knot at the tone her husband was using, and a quick glance over at his expression all but confirmed her worst suspicion.

"It's not like you to go out of your way to visit Iroh," she said as evenly as she could. "What do you have to speak with him about?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Ozai answered shortly, and Ursa could tell from the ripple of tension that went through his body for a moment that her husband wasn't planning on paying his brother a simple social visit. Drawing in a breath, she tempered her emotions and spoke.

"Why?"

Ozai looked over at her, favoring his wife with a small smile that was at once spiteful and patronizing.

"Because the only people in this world who matter are those who wield power, and those strong enough to take it."

"So you would tear this entire world apart, for what? Just to spite your brother?"

"This has nothing to do with spite," Ozai answered, his voice as smooth as a serpent's hiss. "The future of the Fire Nation hangs in the balance, Ursa. If Iroh is left to his own devices, our children's futures will be a pitiable ruin instead of the prosperity that should be their birthright."

Unable to believe what she'd just heard, Ursa couldn't stop a single burst of stunned laughter from escaping her lips.

"Do you seriously believe that?" she asked, her voice tinged with mockery she was too angry to conceal. "If you throw the Four Nations back into war, there is no way our children _won't_ suffer the consequences."

"There are no consequences for the victors," Ozai replied coldly, his eyes hard and unforgiving as he stared her down. When the two of them had stopped walking, Ursa couldn't be sure.

"If you turn against the Fire Lord, his son will not bow to you," she said with equal steel in her tone. "Kill Lu Ten, and Azula will see you dead for it… even if it takes her five years, or ten, or twenty."

Ozai's lips curled into a sneer.

"She has too much of your blood in her, after all," he said scornfully. "She is welcome to try, if she likes. It's only right that a father be the one to teach their impudent children some respect."

"Lay a hand on either of our children," Ursa replied darkly, "and Azula won't have to worry about putting you in the ground, my lord husband."

Far from being intimidated by the implied threat, Ozai threw his head back and laughed.

"It's been a long, long time since I've seen this much fire in you," he said after his laughter had subsided. "But if you're so concerned about what I might do to your beloved brother-in-law, stop me."

Ursa looked intently at Ozai's face for any sign of his usual mockery or facetiousness, but found none of it.

"What?"

"Stop me," he repeated, completely serious. "I'm standing right here. Go ahead and try."

Ursa felt impotent rage boiling up against the back of her throat, and the strength of it nearly choked her. There was nothing she could do here that wouldn't result in both of them dying, and Ozai knew she would never do that to her children.

"What happened to you?" she asked instead, trying one last time to understand how the quiet, reserved young man she had married had turned out to be such an ambitious power-monger. "When did you change?"

Ozai smiled again, but with no trace of his usual malice.

"When you opened your eyes."

Ursa hung her head and sighed, willing a tear not to fall before she turned and walked down the nearby hallway that led to the prison cell where her daughter was being detained.

Her husband watched her go, his eyes lingering on her retreating form for a few moments before he returned to the task at hand. Ozai had no doubt that she wouldn't have hesitated to poison him if he'd given her the chance; not like it mattered for much now, anyway. Soon, Iroh would be dead, his son shortly after him, and the crown would belong to its rightful possessor. If Azula or Zuko felt like challenging him for the throne after that, he would be more than willing to show them the power of a true Fire Lord.

The doors of the throne room loomed large at the end of the hall, and Ozai strode toward them with all the strength and determination his single-minded purpose granted him. He could almost see the faces of his father and grandfather before him, urging him on to glory. After tonight, he would begin a renaissance unparalleled since the beginning of the great War.

Three of the Imperial Firebenders stood watch at the door, but Ozai's pace didn't flag at all as he approached them. They tensed into battle postures as he came within attacking range, and it was only then that the general stopped walking and stared them down.

"I know what you're thinking, all of you," he said, shifting his gaze from one to the other in turn as he spoke. "You feel bound by some oath of honor to protect your Fire Lord. I understand this; I might even call it honorable, if my brother weren't such a misguided fool.

"But you do not have to throw your lives away meaninglessly trying to stop me," Ozai finished. "I would rather make three allies than leave three corpses in my wake. Step aside, and I will be sure to reward you for your loyalty to the deserving heir of Sozin's legacy."

The three men paused for a tense moment to consider the choice they had just been given, but in the end each of them folded and stepped aside. Ozai smirked in open satisfaction: Iroh had surrounded himself with spineless fools, and now he would pay the price for it. The general pushed open the iron doors with a single powerful fire blast, moving into the throne room itself and within sight of the high seat he had desired for so long.

"My Lord," he said, with a vicious smile and not an ounce of formal courtesy. "I've come to present a grievance to the throne, and ask for recompense."

"If the Lady Ursa had come to me instead," Iroh answered gravely as he rose to his feet, the flames behind the throne pulsing strongly, "I would have assumed that the grievance in question was my placing Princess Azula in protective custody.

"But for some reason, brother," the Fire Lord continued as he stepped down onto the floor of the throne room, locking eyes with Ozai, "I don't think that's what you had in mind."

"Perceptive as always, once the trap is an instant away from closing," the general told the Fire Lord, open contempt in his voice. "Not like that will change anything at this point. Your defeat here is inevitable."

Iroh smiled wide, but his amber eyes were stricken with grief and weariness.

"Do you really think that taking the crown will be as easy as killing me?" he asked, his melancholy seeping into his words. "Sitting on the throne is one thing; staying there is an entirely different task."

"Spare me your platitudes," Ozai said sharply. "That you feel a burden at all when you wear the crown is simply a sign of your unworthiness."

The Fire Lord sighed, bracing himself for what was about to unfold.

Ozai struck first, a large gout of flame rushing out from his fist. Iroh deflected it with a gesture, standing in the middle of the flame and letting it pass over and around him. Ozai advanced undaunted, throwing out a fireball and following it up with a second one a moment later. The Fire Lord dispersed these with more sweeping gestures, remaining unharmed in spite of his sibling's ferocious assault. When he began to circle his opponent, looking for weaknesses in his stance, Ozai struck again with a powerful plume of fire and laughed as his brother dodged to the side, letting it pass him by.

"Is this the sort of Fire Lord you serve?" he shouted, speaking to the Imperial Firebenders he knew were concealed in the shadows. "No wonder you hesitate to join his side; you see how weak he is, just as I do. They don't believe in you, brother," Ozai continued, addressing the Fire Lord now as he pounded the ground with his fist, sending a wave of flame racing along parallel to the floor. "They're waiting to see how this will turn out before they pick a side."

Iroh carved away a piece of the flame wave with a precise kick, finally retaliating with an arc of flame that Ozai stymied with an equal, opposing attack of his own.

"Your time among the Waterbenders made you soft," he said disdainfully, unleashing a second wave of fire with a sharp snap-kick that seemed to make the air around it wither and shrink from its heat. Iroh cut through the attack again and aimed a burst of flame at Ozai's lone leg, but a jet of flame appeared under his brother's foot and lifted the general up into the air. A second arcing kick from Ozai sent a large crescent of flame through the air down towards the Fire Lord, and only a quick counter-burst of fire kept Iroh from getting scorched by it.

The Fire Lord knew better than to let his opponent hold a position of strength for too long, and he moved quickly to close the distance between them. In close quarters, it was far easier to misdirect and stifle his brother's attacks. But Ozai was in far better shape than him physically, and it was only a matter of time before the general began to counter Iroh's strikes with his own unrelenting rain of blows.

"Don't tell me you're getting tired already," Ozai jibed, landing a hard punch to his brother's shoulder and smiling as he heard and felt the joint dislocate under the force of the strike. "You used to be able to put up a much better fight than this, brother."

The Fire Lord said nothing, replying instead with a punch of his own that hit the general a lot harder than he'd been expecting. Iroh took a moment to pop his shoulder back into place as his brother reeled slightly backwards, smiling darkly through the discomfort.

Ozai's surprise at the unexpected retaliation quickly turned into anger, and a heartbeat later two arcs of lightning cut crackling through the air as he brought his arms around in a practiced half-circle. Iroh readied himself to redirect the energy, glad that he'd never bothered to share the defensive counter to lightning with his brother…

Before a blast of fire slammed into the general's side and halted the lightning altogether, throwing him a short distance through the air and forcing him to land hard on the floor of the throne room.

"I don't think so, uncle," Lu Ten said evenly as he walked with a soldier's calm toward the dueling siblings. "An assault on my father is an assault on his entire line, and that includes me. If you really want to take his crown, you'll fight us both for it."

Ozai pushed himself up to his feet with quick propulsive bursts of fire from his hands, before turning to face his nephew with pure malice in his eyes.

"This just makes things even easier," he replied. "Thank you for saving me the trouble of hunting you down, Crown Prince."

Lu Ten didn't waste any more time with words, stepping forward and shooting a controlled fire-blast at Ozai. Iroh was grateful for the respite as his son took up the duel, but couldn't ignore a clenching feeling in his chest as his worst nightmare played out in front of him. Lu Ten was doing an admirable job of choking off his uncle's offensive, but being constantly defensive didn't give him the chance to press an attack of his own.

"What are you waiting for?" the crown prince shouted at last, directing his voice over to the silent shadows. "Serve your Fire Lord! Kill this traitor!"

"_I'm_ the traitor?" Ozai seethed back, bitter and incredulous. "The Northern Water Tribe adds more ships to their fleet every day; they openly harasses our own soldiers; the Earth Kingdom is in a perpetual state of revolt, and you call _me_ a traitor?

"Who was responsible for the decline and ruin of the Fire Nation? Who would have us eating the table-scraps of Waterbending barbarians?"

"An alliance isn't the same thing as subservience," Lu Ten countered, batting aside a short burst of flame before attacking with one of his own, which his uncle dispersed like it was nothing more than an annoying fly. "Cooperation is what makes peace possible, General. Not that I'd ever expect you to understand that."

Ozai snarled and leapt backwards, kicking out and launching a massive burst of flame from the bottom of his foot.

"You're pathetic, and a disgrace to the title of 'Dragon'," the general spat, not even bothering to veil the disgust in his expression. "You would throw away everything my father worked for, everything my grandfather worked for, and put your faith in a piece of parchment with some ink blots on it?

"Dominion through conquest is the only way to secure prosperity for ourselves and our children, Crown Prince," Ozai continued, firing four rapid blasts in a series of chain-punches that Lu Ten had to work quickly to diffuse. "Do you think the other Firebenders in this room have forgotten that they owe their station and privilege to the military? The military you and your father would be just as happy letting rot, while the other nations left us choking on their dust as they rose to supremacy?"

Iroh could feel the atmosphere in the throne room shifting, and he recognized that his brother's words were affecting the Imperial Firebenders. He cursed inwardly; Ozai had always been blessed with a silver tongue, and they'd been sluggish enough to give him a chance to use his most dangerous weapon against them. The Fire Lord moved to re-enter the fray, hoping to tip the balance and end the duel before they lost the upper hand completely.

But as he felt the air heat up suddenly behind him and had to raise a wall of fire to block a sneak-attack from one of the men he had trusted with his life, Iroh knew in his gut that he was too late.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he turned to face his attacker, staring at the eye-slits of his helmet and hoping there was a rational mind behind the armor. "My brother doesn't care about any of you. He would throw you to a pack of hounds if it would keep him alive for one more day."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," the other Firebender replied as he struck, but Iroh could read his muscle movements easily and side-stepped the strike. Grabbing the arm his attacker had led with, the Fire Lord bent it back hard at the elbow. The Firebender howled in pain as his limb was broken, but continued to press the attack as soon as Iroh released his hold. Sighing, the Dragon of the West called fire into his hand and slammed a burning fist into the man's face, dropping him like a stone.

"Lee!" one of the other Imperial Firebenders shouted, just before rushing out of the shadows to face down his commander. "You killed him!" he seethed, fire kindled in both of his palms.

"An action I regret," the Fire Lord said heavily, "and one I do not wish to repeat. Stand down."

The other Firebender roared, rushing forward to attack.

Lu Ten felt his muscles beginning to groan in protest as he continued to go blow-for-blow with his uncle, his skills being pushed to their limit under the pitiless pressure of Ozai's strikes. How his father had managed to withstand it, the crown prince had no idea. He grit his teeth and kept Firebending, blocking and striking in a vain attempt to break down his uncle's defenses and find an opening as the two of them moved around the throne room, leaving broken stone and black scorch-marks in their wake.

Jumping back after yet another clash, the crown prince felt sweat beading on his brow and his eyes narrowed. He knew he had to finish the fight now, or risk losing it in the end. Calling lightning to his fingertips, he unleashed the shrieking volley at Ozai. But the general had been waiting for that, and dodged to the side. Lu Ten rushed forward to attack in the brief window he'd been given before his uncle got his bearings back, and managed to knock Ozai off-balance with a fireball that slammed right into his abdomen.

The general gave a short shout of pain as he was thrown off of his feet for a second time and skidded back slightly on the floor. He could do no more than lay on his back, winded, as the crown prince entered his blurry field of vision and stood over him. There was fire in his hand, and the intent in his eyes was clear. Ozai looked up at him and smiled spitefully through his harsh intakes of breath.

"Do it."

Lu Ten brought his fist down, fully intent on killing his opponent, when his concentration was shattered by the sound of his father shouting out in agony.

The crown prince spun around in an instant and saw the Fire Lord surrounded by Imperial Firebenders. He had felled several of them himself, their bodies splayed out on the floor, but one of the treacherous soldiers had finally managed to land a shot at his back. Iroh fell to his knees, and father and son locked eyes one last time.

"_No!_"

Lu Ten's cry cut through the air at the same time as a pair of fireballs slammed into Iroh at point-blank range. The Dragon of the West slumped forward, lifeless.

Rage surged with blinding force to the front of the crown prince's mind, and he saw nothing before him but red. Charging ahead with a primal shout, Lu Ten paid no heed to whom he was attacking. All that mattered was the hatred consuming him, and the need for revenge. Everyone who had betrayed his father would die, without exception.

The Imperial Firebenders were cut down like wheat before a scythe, and those scrambling to adjust to their new opponent understood all too late why it was unwise to tempt the wrath of a Dragon. The crown prince fought like a man possessed, inhuman sounds passing through his lips that were fueled by grief and pain and rage.

Sounds that were abruptly cut off as a bolt of lightning tore into Lu Ten's back. The raw shock of the electricity forced the crown prince to seize up with a strangled scream and he fell to the ground, jerking as his muscles spasmed uncontrollably.

"How sad," Ozai said mockingly as he advanced on his stunned nephew, ignoring the bleating pleas for help coming from the last of the Imperial Firebenders as the man slowly died, writhing on the floor like an injured insect. "No son should have to watch their father be butchered like that, powerless to help them. But I suppose it's not too surprising; the same weakness that ran in your father's blood runs in yours.

"It's time I ended this ridiculous farce," Ozai finished, still breathing hard as he ignited a concentrated spark of fire in his hand. It quickly expanded into something that looked like a barely-contained bomb, and he smiled viciously through his fatigue. "Your unworthy bloodline ends here, nephew."

The general brought the powerful attack down with brutal certainty, already anticipating the sensation of flesh and bone being torn apart by flames beneath his fist, when a dome of rock suddenly surrounded the crown prince and stopped the firebomb in its tracks. The unexpected shield absorbed the entire shock of the blast, and Ozai looked up in surprise…

Only to be met with an enormous rush of blue fire that hit with the force of a warhammer.

"Get away from him!" the general heard his daughter's voice calling out, the ringing in his ears making her voice hazy. Ozai struggled to his feet, barely registering that his left arm was now little more than a charred ruin. Before he could so much as react to the punishing attack Azula had launced, a second blast of fire slammed into him, so intense that it seemed to roar as it hurtled through the air. Ozai was caught in his wounded chest and sent flying back again, coughing up blood on reflex as pain ripped through every single nerve in his body.

Azula paused in her assault only long enough to ask Toph a single question, her amber eyes smoldering with a potent combination of fury and anxiety as she glanced down at her cousin's prone form.

"Is he alive?"

The Earthbender paused for the single longest moment of the princess's life, before giving a hesitant nod.

"Yeah," Toph said, clearly relieved, "he's alive. But if his heart-rate stays out of control like this—"

"Then get him to the medical wing! Now!" Azula shouted, launching another pair of blasts at her father as her fury overwhelmed her worry. "I'll finish this myself!"

Toph didn't hesitate this time, lifting the rock up from underneath the crown prince and running from the throne room, Lu Ten's unconscious body following behind her on its makeshift transport.

Azula advanced on the general's sprawled form with cold clarity of purpose, the air around her shimmering under the strength of the ambient heat her body was subconsciously exuding. Her world had shrunk down to a single point, a single reason for existence: to make the bastard who had sired her suffer unimaginable, indescribable pain.

She stood over him and scowled at the look on his face. His eyes were dazed and glazed over with pain as he sputtered, trying to form coherent words and failing completely. His left arm was burned to a crisp, but that wasn't good enough for Azula. She formed a blade of blue fire and sliced it clean off, relishing the scream that burst from Ozai's lips as she did so. His other arm was severed in kind a moment later, the scream much louder as the blue blade cut pitilessly through still-active nerves and tissue.

The princess dismissed her sword and dropped to her knees, straddling Ozai's mutilated body as she began punching his face repeatedly. She felt nothing as his bone cracked and shattered beneath her knuckles, heedless of the pain in her own hands. Drops of water began to mix with the blood, and Azula realized numbly that she had started to cry.

"I hate you," she spat. The princess was punching at the floor now, her hands dark with blood and gore that had once been her father's head. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you."

Gentle but firm hands gripped her shoulders a few moments later, and Azula made no effort to struggle as she was pulled gently to her feet. She felt herself turn a heartbeat before Ursa pulled her into an embrace. Feeling comforting, accepting warmth spread through her and realizing the truth of what she had just done, the princess finally gave in and let out wracking sobs against her mother's chest.

"It's okay, Azula; it's okay," Ursa said soothingly, running one hand through her daughter's hair and using the other to gently stroke the princess's back, drawing all of her grief to the surface to be released. "I'm here. I'm here. And I am so, so sorry."

Ursa's eyes shifted to behold her husband's mangled corpse, and every ounce of maternal sympathy was frozen out of them in an instant. She felt Azula's emotions overwhelm her as she went limp within the embrace, and Ursa lifted her up gently before carrying her out of the room. She found Hanzo in the next hall, looking like he'd just fought through ten men by himself; his face was dirty, he was breathing hard and his tunic was torn and bloodstained. He opened his mouth to say something, green eyes still cloudy with adrenaline, before noticing Azula's state. He went silent and looked imploringly up at Ursa, too disjointed for words.

"She'll be fine," the princess's mother assured him, smiling tiredly. "She just needs to rest."

Hanzo nodded reluctantly, not seeing what else he could do. He fell into step at Ursa's side and walked with her towards the medical wing, ever vigilant; as they went, his free hand found Azula's and didn't let it go until they'd reached their destination. As soon as the nurses took the princess from her mother and transferred her to a bed, the branded prince promptly passed out and fell to the floor. A quick examination revealed that he'd sustained multiple shallow knife wounds, and had gone unconscious from gradual blood loss— the doctor was shocked he'd stayed awake even as long as he had.

On the Lady Ursa's orders, over the protests of the guards who had no idea who this strange young man even was, Hanzo was given a bed next to her daughter.

* * *

Katara dreamed of a forest.

It would have been odd enough if that had been the end of it; after all, she'd only seen forests in illustrations that had been between the pages of books brought down to the South Pole by Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation merchants. But this was more than just a simple forest. Katara knew that beyond the shadow of a doubt, thanks to the weird tingling feeling that ran from the tips of her toes up to the crown of her head and down into the marrow of her bones.

Also, the talking monkey in front of her was another big hint.

"Go away," he said again, unmoved by the fact that Katara's mouth was gaping open so wide her jaw might as well have been on the floor.

"You…" she tried to find the words to adequately express what she was feeling, but gave up. "You can _talk_."

The small, bearded monkey huffed, his condescending look making no secret of his contempt for the stunned visitor.

"She speaks as if this is extraordinary," he hummed smugly, looking over Katara's shoulder. "Do something with her, before my head explodes from the ignorance."

"Quiet, you," a second voice replied with an edge of annoyance, prompting Katara to turn around. The speaker was a boy— no older than twelve, by the look of him—who wore simple clothes, carried a staff slung over his shoulder and had a shaved head, the mark of an arrow tattooed on his forehead. Katara was motionless for a few heartbeats, but when understanding dawned on her she gasped in surprise and delight.

"You're an Airbender!" she exclaimed, causing the monkey behind her to cluck in irritation.

"And I have a tail," he groused. "Are you going to start dancing for joy about that next?"

"Don't listen to him," the boy said quickly, walking away and motioning for Katara to follow. "Come on," he continued. "We need to talk, and we don't have much time."

The Waterbender was quiet for another moment, confusion in her eyes.

"Your name is Aang," she said with a certainty that made her very nervous.

"Yup, that's right."

"How can I know what your name is if I've never seen you before in my life?"

"Because I was your past life," Aang said frankly, shooting Katara a quick smirk. "You didn't think the other Avatars just disappeared when they died, did you?"

"But… that would mean…" Katara said slowly, confusion settling back in, "that you're dead."

"As a doornail," Aang replied, as casually as if he were commenting on the weather. "Can't you see that I'm blue and glowing, Katara? I'm _pretty _certain that's not normal for people who're still breathing."

The Waterbender stopped walking and blinked, realizing that yes, the boy she was talking to was in fact blue. And also glowing. She looked down at her hands to double-check that they were still opaque and normal, and was relieved to find that they were—except that just made her confusion even worse.

"Wait," she said pleadingly, closing her eyes tightly as her eyebrows bunched together in pained thought, "what's going on? Where the heck _are_ we?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," Aang said sheepishly. "I probably should have told you that first. We're in the Spirit World."

"And like Aang said," another speaker broke in, his voice much older and more wizened, "we do not have much time."

Katara looked over to see an old man standing there, clad in Fire Nation robes and wearing a headpiece that she could tell must have belonged to someone either incredibly rich, royal, or both.

"This is Avatar Roku, Katara," Aang introduced him, before shrugging. "But you probably could have figured that one out."

"So, let me just get this straight," Katara said bluntly, fighting to keep from feeling completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened to her in the past five minutes. "I'm not dead, am I?"

"No," Roku assured her, a spark of humor in his eyes for a blink, before it disappeared. "You are, however, in great danger," the former Avatar continued, now completely serious. "It is for that reason, and that reason only, that Aang and I saw fit to call you here before your true awakening. If you linger here too long as you are, you might not be able to return to the mortal world at all."

"So tell me what I need to know, then," Katara said insistently, her tolerance for the completely bizarre quickly reaching its limit. "I don't think I'd like being here for the rest of eternity."

"You get used to it," Aang said brightly, before Roku silenced him with a reproachful look. "Sorry," the young Airbender mumbled, contrite.

"As I said," Roku spoke up again, "you are in great danger, Katara. A small group of disguised Fire Nation ships carrying raiders is docked at your port, and they mean to kill you."

"_What?"_ Katara half-shouted, all of her confusion melting away to be replaced by cold, clammy fear. "Why didn't you tell me this when they were on their way?"

"You don't seem to understand how hard it was to pull you here in the first place," Roku said sternly, before shaking his head. "It was only thanks to today being so near the solstice that we could even bring you here before your awakening.

"No matter," he finished. "Our purpose was to warn you, and we have done that much. Aang, see to the rest."

The young Airbender gave Katara an apologetic look and held out his hand.

"How long do I have?" the Waterbender asked as she reached out to him, and Aang's eyes were filled with a sadness that made him seem much, much older than twelve.

"Honestly?" he answered, "About three minutes. I wish I could do something to help you, but there's no way for me to cross back over to the mortal world—not unless today actually was the solstice. But even then," he added mournfully, "it'd be impossible without a bridge."

"A bridge?" Katara repeated as she took Aang's hand in her own, beginning to feel light-headed instantly. "I thought I _was_ the bridge!"

"_Only if you let yourself be,"_ the Airbender's voice replied weakly, and Katara was vaguely aware that she could no longer see him: the world around her had faded into whiteness, and she was drifting; floating; falling…

"_It's time to wake up."_

Katara's eyes opened with a start as her lungs sucked in a gasp of air, every nerve in her body feeling like it couldn't decide between being blazing hot or freezing cold. The Waterbender was halfway to her feet before she felt someone next to her; she spun around in fright, but as soon as she saw that it was Zuko, she forced herself to exhale.

"Katara?" her fiancé asked tensely, worry and alarm playing freely across his face. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Raiders," she answered quickly, bolting for the door. The prince scrambled to put his boots back on and hurry out after her, shrugging on his jacket as he went.

"What do you mean, raiders?" Zuko said as the two of them made their way through the house, Katara frantically rousing the rest of her family.

"I mean raiders are here, Zuko," she explained gravely, once she was sure everyone was accounted for. "From the Fire Nation. And they're coming to kill me."

"They're _what?_" Sokka said, the seriousness in his sister's voice sending him reeling. "Are you sure?"

Katara was about to argue the point, before the sounds of frantic screams and clashing weapons began to rip through the night.

"Yes, Sokka," she said with as much calm insistence as she could muster, "I'm absolutely sure." The Waterbender turned and walked quickly towards the door, only to have Zuko catch up and stop her with a hand around her bicep.

"Where are you going?"

"Outside."

"How does any part of you think that's even close to a good idea?"

Katara refused to back down.

"Because those raiders are looking for me," she said adamantly. "That's how. If I go out there, they won't hurt anyone else."

Zuko was quiet at that, looking intently into Katara's eyes for a few long heartbeats. He knew that she was going to go no matter what, that it was going to be unbelievably dangerous, and that the odds were very good she might not come back… but he couldn't bring himself to stop her.

"Fine," he sighed, a look of satisfaction on his fiancée's face until she realized he hadn't loosened his grip. "But if you're going," Zuko finished, "I'm coming with you. And don't even try to argue, because it's not going to work," he cut Katara off, the protest dying on her tongue. "We're doing this together."

"And what am I supposed to do, exactly?" Sokka broke in, sounding indignant. Hakoda gave his son a level stare as he grabbed his hunting spear off of the wall.

"Stay right here," he said, "and make sure no Fire Nation soldiers get into this house. Keep your mother safe; do you understand?"

Sokka nodded, all childish impulsiveness gone from his face and replaced with hardened determination.

"Yes, Sir," he answered firmly. "I understand."

The chief nodded, satisfied.

"Good." Hakoda said, before walking over to the pair standing by the door and looking his daughter in the eye. "Are you sure about this, Katara?"

The Waterbender nodded without any hesitation.

"There are people dying out there because someone from the Fire Nation is here looking for me," she repeated. "I'm not going to let any more blood get on my hands if I can help it."

Hakoda sighed, knowing Katara well enough to admit to himself that he wasn't going to win this argument. She had too much of her mother in her to ever back down from anything.

"Just be safe," he said at last, unwilling to part without at least saying something. Turning to Zuko, he gave the Fire Nation prince a searching look. "Are you okay with fighting your own people?"

Zuko nodded.

"Anyone who could do something like this," he said with conviction, "is not one of my people."

Hakoda held the prince's eyes for one more heartbeat before nodding, hefting his spear and moving out into the chaos of the night.

"Katara."

The Waterbender stopped at the sound of her name as she moved towards the door, looking back over her shoulder to see her mother standing beside Sokka. Kya smiled, her eyes at once both proud and sad.

"I love you."

Katara looked at Zuko, an unspoken question in her eyes. He nodded. She ran to her mother, and the two of them shared a tender embrace that ended far too soon.

"I love you too, mom," the Waterbender said, before turning and hurrying back to Zuko's side and steeling herself one last time.

"You ready?" Zuko asked, and Katara nodded.

"Let's do this."

* * *

Katara had never actually seen someone die before.

The wounded were a common presence in any Waterbending healing lesson, and she would never forget the sight of Lyra's parents' bodies laying lifeless on the floor of their house after Yon Rha's raid all those years ago… but actually watching a man die in front of her was something else entirely. It made her sick to her stomach, but there was no time for regret or mourning right now. Battle was still raging around her, and she had to help stop it. She left the man behind where he'd breathed his last, impaled on a spear of ice that the Waterbender had brought up from the ground on reflex.

"Katara! Katara! He's here! He's here!"

The shouts drew her eyes over to the left in an instant, and what she saw there made Katara run faster than she'd ever thought possible. Lyra was calling out to her, clearly upset and traumatized by what was going on, unaware of the fact that a Firebender was advancing behind her.

"Get down!" Katara shouted, and her cousin hit the deck right before the Firebender sent a short wave of fire slicing right where Lyra's neck had been.

Katara didn't even pause for thought; ripping a layer of moisture clean off of the ice around her, she re-froze it and sent the icicles tearing through the gaps in the man's armor. He fell limply to the ground, and Katara sprinted the rest of the way to her cousin's side as Lyra rose shakily to her feet.

"What's wrong?" the older Waterbender asked her cousin. "Who's here?"

"The man who killed my mom and dad," Lyra forced out after a moment. "I saw him. I was out here to get a midnight snack from the storage room, and there were some guards talking to people from the Fire Nation—they said they were supply ships, but then… but then…" she trailed off, beginning to cry openly into Katara's jacket as her older cousin embraced her.

"It'll be fine," Katara said as soothingly as she could, rage boiling in her stomach as she realized that somehow, Yon Rha had found his way back to their shores. "It'll be fine. I promise. Let's get you back to my house, all right? Sokka and my mother are there; you'll be safe."

Lyra nodded, and they hurried back towards Katara's house while the battle continued to rage around them.

"Where's Zuko?" she asked as they ran. "Why isn't he with you? Did something happen to him?"

"We got split up," Katara explained, looking around to make sure no one was about to try and kill them. "I'm not sure where he is."

"Are you serious?" Lyra said, skidding to a halt and staring her cousin down. "What if he got injured, or worse? Go find him, Katara!"

"But—"

"No 'buts'!" she insisted, steadfast. "Go! We're almost at your house anyway; I'll make it there fine on my own!"

Katara thought about arguing, but her cousin's eyes were still slightly red from crying earlier and there was no way the older Waterbender could bring herself to make her even more upset.

"Okay; fine," she said at last, and Lyra smiled. "I'll go track down Zuko, if it'll make you feel better."

"Then stop talking and get going!" her cousin said, sounding uncannily like her mother. "Get!"

Katara nodded once, turning away and running back into the fray without another word. It seemed like the tide was turning in their favor; pockets of Fire Nation troops were being isolated and overwhelmed by coordinated Waterbenders and Water Tribe warriors using normal weapons. Whoever these raiders were, they clearly hadn't been expecting such stiff resistance. Really, it was their fault for thinking that a peace treaty with the Fire Nation would have made the Southern Water Tribe soft.

Katara ran past clusters of her friends and fellow villagers, and they all seemed to be relieved that she was still alive and unharmed. The Waterbender heard some repeated snatches of conversation about her father and Yon Rha as she rushed by, looking for a sight that she was hoping would stand out like a sore thumb: a Firebender fighting other Firebenders.

As it turned out, the sight of a Firebender dressed like a Water Tribesman was just as noticeable as a Firebender fighting another Firebender—and when the two things were combined, they were outright impossible to miss. Zuko was wearing a blue tunic, having shed his jacket at some point during the fighting. He was dueling another Firebender who looked to be around his age, tall and muscular and wearing the single most pompous, arrogantly self-entitled expression on his face that Katara had ever seen.

Zuko knocked his opponent off-balance a few moments later and launched a weak fire blast at his chest; it didn't have enough force to burn seriously, but it incapacitated the loser all the same. The Waterbender called out to him, and the prince turned to face her; surprised at first, but then smiling wide.

"Katara!" he said, relief flooding his face as he ran to her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said, glad that Zuko hadn't run across a fight he couldn't handle alone. "Apparently Yon Rha is at the head of this attack," she finished, her tone turning serious. Zuko nodded.

"I know," he said gravely. "Chan over there told me while we were fighting. And apparently, he organized it with my father's blessing," the prince finished bitterly, his amber eyes narrowing. "I always knew he preferred Azula over me, but this… it goes way beyond any of that."

"I'm sure whatever he's done, your uncle will make him answer for it," Katara assured him, and Zuko nodded.

"If we can get Chan to testify against my father in exchange for a pardon," the prince said, "then I'm su—"

His words were cut off by a sudden sharp, burning impact against his back, and he was thrown down onto his knees by the force of the blow. He looked up at Katara for a moment, his eyes unfocused. A heartbeat later, before the Waterbender had even grasped what had happened, a second blast knocked him the rest of the way forward into the snow. Zuko laid there unmoving, face-down, as sickly, sickening wisps of smoke rose into the night air from a pair of blackened wounds in his back. Katara could tell from a glance that they were fatal, and her heart dropped into her stomach.

Zuko was dead.

"That was stupid of him, leaving me alive like that," Chan gloated at he walked toward the stunned Waterbender, limping slightly. "You think he'd know better; honestly."

"You…" Katara said at last, not wanting to admit it, "you killed him."

Chan chuckled.

"No shit," he said callously, smiling as he ignited fire in his right hand. "Your turn."

The cocky Firebender moved to attack his next target, and his hand had made it halfway to Katara's face before his entire arm suddenly seized up and froze in place. As it began to spasm and contort painfully, Chan looked again and saw that Katara's eyes had begun to glow a bright, unearthly blue.

"_You killed him!"_ she repeated, shouting this time. It was as if she was speaking with thousands of voices rather than one, and all too late it dawned on Chan just whom he'd decided to attack.

A heartbeat later, every drop of blood in his body was torn out through the pores of his skin. The young Firebender fell to the ground, dead, and the snow around him remained perfectly, immaculately white.

The Avatar unclenched her fist slowly, and the torrent of blood suspended in the air rained down onto the snow in tiny, almost delicate droplets. The force of nature inhabiting the young woman looked over at the desiccated corpse of her enemy and let loose a large gout of flame from her other hand, leaving behind nothing more than a brittle pile of blackened bones by the time she was done.

"Katara?"

The Avatar recognized the voice and looked up, surprised to see Zuko suspended in the air above her, blue and glowing. He looked terrified.

"Zuko?" the thousand voices asked as one, hesitant and uncertain. "I thought…"

"Katara, what's going on?" the prince's spirit asked, sounding more afraid than the Avatar had ever heard him before. "I can see myself down there, but I'm… I don't understand! What happened to me?"

The Avatar opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything Zuko's spirit began to move away from her. The prince tried to fight against it, but he was powerless. He called her name in desperation, and Katara felt her heart breaking.

"I'm not going to lose you," she said at last, pulling her own spirit free from her body and floating up into the air. "I won't. I _can't._"

The disembodied Avatar flew up into the sky after Zuko's fleeing spirit as it began to move faster and faster, determined not to lose sight of it. Katara didn't even hesitate as the prince vanished through what looked like a rift in the sky, the landscape on the other side unmistakably belonging to the Spirit World. She kept going, leaving the mortal world and her mortal form behind her completely.

If some spirit thought they could just take Zuko away from her without a fight, they were in for one very rude awakening.

* * *

…

…

**A/N:** Not gonna lie, this chapter made me hate myself a bit. I tried to balance out Iroh's death by making sure Ozai met a particularly grisly end (I've been waiting to write that bit for months), but still. Although the first draft of this chapter had Hakoda getting his head cut off by a battle axe, so I guess it's not quite as dark as it could have been...? Regardless, I hope it wasn't too bleak for you all. It's all uphill from here; this is as heavy as the story's going to get. There's light at the end of the tunnel, I promise.

Before I get into new reviewer thank-yous, I have to give well-deserved shout-outs to both **Masayume85** and **Em Dixon** for being unflagging sources of moral support while I was writing out this chapter. Without them and their encouragement, it probably would have taken a lot more time to write than it did, and been a lot more of a grind besides. So to the two of you, thanks again. You're both awesome. Go read their stuff; it's awesome, too.

Okay, time for new reviewer honorable mentions! This week, we have **aurora**, **KnightOfZaku **and **EVA-Saiyajin**. Thanks for reading! Also, I have to give a big, general 'thank you' to everyone who's been reading and reviewing so far... last chapter's feedback was great, and far exceeded my expectations this late into the story. I really appreciate all of you taking the time to drop in your two cents.

Last but certainly not least, it's time for next week's teaser. Katara travels into the Spirit World to get Zuko's soul back, but winds up running into a spirit who feels she needs to be taught an important lesson about her role as the Avatar. Meanwhile, back in the Fire Nation, Lu Ten assumes both the title of Fire Lord and the burdens it carries.

.

Thanks again to all of you for reading this far, and I'll see you next week!

**- Jazz**


	18. Orphea

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 18: **Orphea

* * *

Katara hurt in places she didn't even know she had.

Making the transition between the mortal world and the Spirit World, even without bringing her body along for the ride, was like running at full speed through a stone wall. And in the time that it had taken her to get her bearings back, groaning as she leaned against a large tree root and tried to stop her head from spinning, Zuko's spirit had vanished completely.

"I lost him," the Avatar said numbly, feeling defeat hanging over her shoulders. "I can't believe I let that happen."

"Actually," Aang's earnest voice chimed in from Katara's right, "you didn't lose Zuko. Or I guess I should say, I know exactly where he is. So he's not 'lost', really."

Her head whirled around at that, and the Avatar's eyes widened in a combination of surprise and sudden relief.

"You know where he is?" she repeated, and Aang nodded. "You're sure?"

Another nod.

"Then what are we doing standing around here?" Katara asked at last, her tone intense. "Let's go get him!"

The Airbender clammed up at that, his posture and expression instantly becoming much more hesitant. The change didn't go unnoticed by the Avatar, and her blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What is it?" she asked pointedly. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Well, y'see," Aang began nervously, "Zuko's spirit was taken hostage, by another spirit who lives here. A very old, very powerful spirit, whose name is Koh."

"Wait," Katara cut in, "back up. His spirit was taken _hostage_? Why would anyone want to do that? And who the heck is this 'Koh' guy?"

"The answer to both of those questions," Roku's voice broke in to the conversation, "is, in essence, the same thing. Forgive my lateness, Katara," the Firebender apologized with a short nod. "I was greeting an old friend of mine, one who just arrived here in the Spirit World."

The Avatar caught the implication in Roku's words, and her annoyance at having unanswered questions was eclipsed by sympathy.

"I am sorry for your loss," she said gravely, and the Firebender gave a sad smile.

"I appreciate your condolences," he said, "but I am not the one who needs them the most. Prince Zuko will be far more devastated by this loss, I am certain."

Katara was confused by the answer, but the mention of Zuko's name snapped her focus back to Aang's earlier mention of the spirit who had apparently taken her fiancé hostage.

"Who exactly is 'Koh', Avatar Roku?" she asked again, and the Firebender's expression became stoic in a heartbeat.

"He was one of the first spirits, born into existence before the creation of the Avatar," Roku explained. "He has always had a… complicated relationship with those who have worn the Avatar's mantle, a tradition he does not apparently wish to end any time soon. He is the one who has taken Prince Zuko's soul captive—and if you wish to release him, then Koh is the spirit you will have to go through.

"But when you speak to him, be very, very careful," the Firebender finished gravely. "Koh is known as the 'Face Stealer'; that is his power, and his most fearsome weapon. If you show any fear or emotion in his presence, if you make even the slightest expression, Koh will steal your face."

Katara thought at first that Roku was exaggerating, but the stone-serious look on Aang's face told her otherwise. Fighting hard to hold back a shiver, the Avatar steeled herself and spoke as confidently as she could.

"I didn't come all the way here just to go back home empty handed," she said. "I don't care what I have to do, or which crazy spirit I have to bargain with. I'm not leaving without Zuko."

Roku nodded, as if he'd been expecting that response from the beginning.

"Very well. Aang, show Katara the way to Koh's lair. I have something I wish to discuss with my friend."

The Firebender's incorporeal form vanished into thin air, leaving the Avatar alone with the Airbender. Aang put his fingers to his lips, whistling long and loud. A few moments later, a large, furry creature came flying towards the two of them with a loud bellow.

"Hey, buddy!" the Airbender called out cheerfully as the creature landed on the ground with a mildly earth-shaking _thwump_. "This is Appa, my sky bison," Aang said, giving the large animal's snout an affectionate pat. "He'll take us to the place where Koh lives."

Katara climbed aboard Appa's back and the sky bison took flight, soaring into the sky with a single smack of its giant tail against the ground. It was a short journey through the air—much shorter than it would have been dealing with all of those tangled roots and precariously placed rock protrusions on the ground—but Katara still had enough time to take in some breathtakingly surreal sights. Chief among them was a massive, nine-tailed fox whose fur was white as snow, its eyes spheres of amber that shone almost as intently as twin suns.

"They were the first ones who showed Firebenders how to make lightning," Aang offered, keeping his face focus forward as they approached a huge, gnarled and seemingly dead tree. "I have no idea how they made it into the mortal world, though—Roku still hasn't told me that story, no matter how often I ask him to."

Appa settled down on the ground near the tree with a surprising amount of delicacy, barely raising up a dust cloud. Katara hopped back down to the ground, seeing a gap at the base of the tree as soon as she looked at the trunk up-close.

"Koh is in there," Aang said from above her, still on his sky bison's back. "Remember, show no emotion at all when you talk to him, or he'll steal your face. Good luck!"

The Airbender was gone with a word to Appa, and the Avatar took one last deep breath before entering into the hollowed-out trunk of the rotted tree.

The air was dank and the moist bark smelled of rot and decay, but Katara didn't dare let her unease show on her face. She could hear the faintest of scuttling sounds between the thick cables of roots nearby, and she could feel the prickly sensation on the back of her neck that only came from being watched.

Koh knew he had a guest, all right. But the Avatar was determined to get Zuko free, even if it cost her everything—and there was no way she'd be able to do that if she slipped up now. And so Katara walked on, slowly but surely, one step at a time, closer and closer to the heart of the old, diseased tree.

"Welcome, Avatar," a voice as smooth as silk and sharp as a sword's edge came floating down to her from somewhere above as Katara finally came to the end of the path. "It really has been far too long since our last meeting—I thought we were friends, you and I."

Katara raised her head up to look at the ceiling, and saw nothing…

But when she looked back down again, a monster was staring her right in the eyes, so close she could see herself reflected in the pale white surface of the drama mask that seemed to be its face. The creature appeared to be a gigantic insect, with furry hair on the top of its carapace and two sets of spindly legs on either side of its long, large body.

The master of the tree had finally come out of hiding.

"Please, forgive me," Katara said calmly, her own expression as smooth as polished glass, "but I don't know you. Have we met before?"

Koh laughed long and loud at that, his face shifting into that of a shrieking owl as the white mask was swallowed up and the bird's face was spit back out in its place.

"Have we met, you ask?" the spirit repeated mockingly. "Of all your incarnations, Avatar, the ones from the Water Tribe really are the most thoroughly amusing." Koh lifted himself up onto his hind legs, turning his massive body around with surprising grace. "I'll never forget the time," he mused, "when the last Water Tribe Avatar tried to _slay me!"_

Koh spun around and lunged at Katara as he finished, his face switching to a blue demon mask. But the Avatar was unmoved, her expression as constant as ever.

"I am sorry for that, truly," she replied evenly. "Why did they try to kill you?"

"Oh, it was for a reason quite similar to the one that brought you here, actually," Koh answered, his voice touched with feigned melancholy. "Something about stealing the face of the woman he loved," the spirit finished, the blue demon mask ceding its place to the face of a beautiful, young Water Tribe woman.

"Which, of course, brings us to you," Koh said as he shifted around to stand behind Katara, resting his forelimbs on her shoulders. "The sweet young girl who's come to tell mean old Koh to give her back the spirit of the boy she loves. Really, it's quite the touching story. If I had eyes of my own, I might actually cry.

"But tell me, Katara—do you know _why_ I decided to hold poor Zuko here in the first place?"

"Because you wanted me to come to you," the Avatar answered. "You wanted to talk to me."

"Wrong, child," Koh admonished her, the kind face of the young woman twisted into a deep, angry scowl. "I wanted you to _listen_ to me—something you appear to be utterly incapable of. Have you ever stopped to consider that this story isn't just about you?"

"What do you mean?"

The young woman's face was finally replaced by the face of an older man with gray hair, and Katara breathed an inward sigh of relief. The young woman had reminded the Avatar too much of her mother for comfort, and it had almost cracked her calm completely.

"I mean," Koh continued with a sigh, "that you don't even seem to know what you are; what you represent, child. Kuruk was the same way. The only thing more useless than a Water Tribe Avatar is a Water Tribe Avatar in love with someone."

"Can the Avatar not love?" Katara asked, careful to keep all emotion frozen from her voice. "Is that what you want me to hear?"

"You speak," Koh said smoothly, the face of the old man lined with grandfatherly disdain, "and yet you say nothing, child. The Avatar can certainly love… in fact, it's been said that the Avatar _is_ love, made manifest—a pure expression of compassion in form of flesh. But still," the spirit allowed with a theatrical sigh, "I suppose you aren't too far off the mark.

"The reason why I brought him here," Koh said, gesturing lazily up to where Katara saw for the first time that a faintly-glowing, blue version of Zuko was hanging suspended in the tree branches, unconscious, "was to teach you a lesson, Avatar. That your feelings, your emotions, however powerful they may be, are nothing compared to the wellbeing of your world.

"It was a lesson that Kuruk refused to learn, until I taught him through pain and anguish. And I am not in the habit of making the same mistakes twice."

"If you're going to kill him anyway," Katara said flatly, fighting with every fiber of her being to keep herself calm, "why would you wait? Just do it now."

"My, aren't you the cold one?" Koh said with a laugh, coiling himself so that his face came to rest in front of Katara, now a man with a bald head and thin black sideburns. "I'm not going to kill him, child; I'm going to make you a deal."

"What sort of deal?"

"Convince me," Koh said smoothly, his face back to the original white drama mask, "that your love for him will not cloud your judgment when it must be clear. Convince me that your love for him will not prevent you from doing your duty as the Avatar, and I will let him go."

"Fine. That's easy," the Avatar replied. "I don't love him."

The spirit stared at Katara for a few long moments, and for the first time it seemed that he was the one with nothing to say. But then Koh broke his silence and laughed, so long and loud that his whole body was still shaking from it even ten seconds after he'd stopped.

"I have seen some horrible liars in my life, child," he said, "and I will see hundreds upon hundreds more before my time is done… but I don't think any of them were or will be as bad as you. That was the single most unconvincing thing I've ever heard."

"And why is that?"

"Why? _Why?"_ Koh laughed again, his face changing involuntarily to the owl and then the demon before settling back on the white mask. "I don't know. Maybe it's because I can see through you as easily as a pool of water, even when your face tells me nothing.

"Or maybe, it's because the only thing in the world that could give someone like you the courage to challenge someone like me is love. Try again, Avatar."

Katara took a deep breath, biting down her frustration.

"If I don't save Zuko," she said, "then I won't be able to learn Firebending. If I can't do that, I can't truly become the Avatar you claim I have to be."

"A thin reason, at best," Koh cooed back, a malicious smile in his voice. "There are plenty of master Firebenders in the Fire Nation that you could learn from. And besides," the spirit added with a chuckle, "you seemed to know just how to Firebend well enough last night; I could smell the charred flesh all the way over here."

The Avatar repressed a shudder at that implication, moving past it as quickly as she could and refocusing herself.

"You don't understand—"

"I highly doubt that, somehow."

"I'm supposed to marry Zuko," Katara pressed on, undaunted. "That was what we agreed on, and that's how I was going to get safe passage into the Fire Nation. Without that, there's no chance I'll be able to learn Firebending at all."

"You should really stop trying to convince me that the circumstances between the two of you haven't changed since you first met," Koh chided with a sigh. "And at any rate, you don't think the Fire Lord will just let you in anyway, child?" he asked, his face shifting back to the young Water Tribe woman. "That man is carrying enough guilt about the Avatar on his back to sink a lion turtle. It's truly astounding, even to me. Besides," the spirit finished dismissively, "you don't have to worry about your safety in the Fire Nation anymore, regardless. Anyone there who would have wanted you dead is already dead themselves."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, beginning to feel fatigue from the mental exertion it took to keep her face emotionless for this long. "What happened in the Fire Nation?"

"Oh, Roku didn't tell you?" Koh replied, mock hurt in his voice as he moved back around behind the Avatar. "I wonder why he would keep something so important a secret from you, child. The Dragon of the West is dead, as is his brother. I always knew that bloodline would consume itself with violence, but fratricide _and_ patricide in succession? That's quite the feat."

"But if Fire Lord Iroh is dead," Katara said, looking up towards Zuko's dormant spirit and feeling a deep pang of sympathy at the thought that his family had torn itself apart so suddenly, "then who succeeded him?"

"Come now, that's a silly question," the spirit said as he slithered back around to face Katara, the white mask back in place. "Of course the Crown Prince or Princess succeeds the Fire Lord when they die. In this case, it will be Iroh's son Lu Ten who takes the throne. One Dragon to take the place of another… how fitting.

"But speaking of Lu Ten," Koh continued, his face shifting back to the old man and smirking viciously, "I think there's something you should know about Prince Zuko's dear cousin, before we part ways."

"I'm not leaving w—"

"Without Zuko; yes, yes, I know," the spirit cut her off, sounding mildly annoyed. "I'm getting to that. But tell me, Avatar: did your precious fiancé ever let you in on the Fire Nation's dirty little secret? That Lu Ten killed your previous incarnation?"

Koh paused expectantly, looking like a jackal-fox about to pounce. Katara, however, was unmoved.

"You're testing me," she said after a few long moments, her breathing still even. "You're trying to see if I'll turn against the Fire Nation, just to spite them. It's not going to happen."

The spirit looked surprised for an instant, but then he laughed.

"So, the child has eyes to see after all, and ears to hear. Perhaps there is hope for you yet, Avatar. All the same," Koh continued, his voice steely once again, "I must confess my skepticism. Are you honestly telling me that you aren't angry at Lu Ten for forcing you to take up the burden of being Avatar? If he hadn't killed Aang, none of this would have happened.

"You would have been able to live out the rest of your days in peace, and your village never would have been attacked; Prince Zuko would never even have died to begin with."

Katara nearly replied that she also wouldn't have been able to save Zuko by coming here if she wasn't the Avatar, but she choked the words off just in time. No doubt it was another test, and the Avatar could hear what Koh's jeering reply would have been ringing in her ears even now: _Didn't I say this wasn't about you? Clearly this boy matters more to you than the rest of the Four Nations. Perhaps I should just keep him here, and save you the temptation._

"I'm not going to play this game with you any more, Koh," the Avatar said, struggling to keep her face calm. "If I used my power to attack an entire nation based on the actions of a single person, I'd be no better than Sozin wiping out the Air Nomads trying to kill Aang. If the Avatar is supposed to bring balance to the world, then that's exactly what I'm going to do."

The Face Stealer brought back the face of Kuruk's wife and sighed, the weariness showing in the face that one of her past lives had dearly loved making Katara oddly sad.

"This is why I spoke out against the creation of the Avatar in the first place, all those millennia ago," Koh mused. "No one person should have to shoulder such responsibility, especially not when the chance exists that they will awaken to it at so young an age. But that is neither here nor there, child," the spirit continued, staring at Katara seriously as all weariness fled from his face, "and I tire of this little game, just as you do. So I will make you an offer—consider it one final test of your resolve.

"If you can turn around right now and walk all the way out of here without looking back, I promise on my name itself that I will relinquish Zuko's soul to you. How does that sound?"

"Like we have a deal," Katara said evenly, inwardly overjoyed to be through dealing with Koh. She spared only enough time for a bow before turning around and beginning to walk back down the winding hall that had been carved into the massive tree.

"Feel free to make all the faces you want, by the way," the Face Stealer's voice called out after her. "I'm not going to jump out at you from around a corner, if that's what you're worried about."

The Avatar's face remained perfectly still.

Katara focused only on putting one foot in front of the other, not daring to so much as turn her head slightly to either side. The tunnel was dark, but she could see a few weak shafts of light ahead and drew her strength from the knowledge that this whole hellish night was about to come to an end. The light became stronger and stronger as she got closer and closer; vaguely, almost at the edge of her perception, Katara could swear she heard the sound of breathing coming from behind her.

_That bastard._

Forcing her to turn her back on Zuko and walk away from him had been bad enough, but the knowledge that he was walking right behind her was the worst kind of torture.

"I'm right here," he said quietly, comfortingly, seeing the sudden tension in Katara's stride. "I'm here."

"You better stay there," the Avatar said as calmly as she could, every nerve in her body blazing under the combined tension of not looking behind her and keeping her expression completely emotionless. The exit was within sight now, as were the trees beyond this one, glowing softly in the surreal orange light.

Katara had scarcely stepped out of the tree when she collapsed to her knees and heaved a massive sigh, trying to let all of her pent-up feelings find an escape without sobbing hysterically with relief in the process. She was only half-successful.

"You were amazing, Katara," she barely heard Zuko say, the sound of his voice only serving to wring a few more ecstatic tears out of her eyes. "Absolutely incredible."

"I… I did it," the Avatar said at last, her tears ceasing as she smiled and looked up, her smile turning into a grin as she saw Zuko kneeling in front of her at eye-level, looking at her with a combination of awe and wonder. "I did it."

She reached out and tenderly touched his cheek, still not quite believing that he was really there. She'd seen him die, but she'd brought him back again. She hadn't lost him after all. But they couldn't rest quite yet, all the same.

"We need to get you back to your body," she said with determination, rising to her feet as Zuko followed suit. "I just hope nothing's happened to it since the battle," the Avatar added, worry creeping into her features as she understood that it would be impossible for Zuko's soul to live inside a body that was mangled beyond repair, or headless.

"Zuko's body has come to no further harm," a new voice spoke to the pair, warm and grandfatherly and weary and sad all at once. "Nor has yours, Avatar. Your father saw to their safe return, and your mother to their healing."

Katara and Zuko looked over to where the voice had come from, and they recognized the older man as Fire Lord Iroh. The Avatar could only be silent at the sight of the man whom she had previously only seen in scrolls, books or on posters. The prince's reaction, however, was far more immediate.

"Uncle?" Zuko asked, confused and worried. "What are you doing here? Why do you look like that? What happened to you?"

Katara belatedly remembered that Zuko hadn't been conscious to hear Koh's news that the Fire Lord was dead, and her heart broke for him all over again.

"I am afraid, dear nephew," Iroh's spirit said, smiling with melancholy in his eyes, "that this trip here is far more permanent for me than my last one was."

Understanding dawned on Zuko's face at that, followed closely by dread and despair. Katara reached out to him, resting her hand on his shoulder in support and comfort.

"You don't mean…" the prince said slowly, "that you're dead, uncle?"

"In the mortal world, yes," Iroh answered, his sad smile still in place. "Here, at least, someone was still looking out for me. The transition was a painless one."

It took Zuko a few moments to find his next words, and when he did speak he sounded as angry as Katara could ever remember hearing him.

"Who?" he said shortly, condensing enough anger into the single word to make the Avatar flinch, although her hand stayed where it was. "Who did it?"

"Someone who is already dead, in case I'm right in guessing what you're thinking," Iroh said, his voice stern. "It pains me that your first thought was of vengeance, Zuko."

The prince lowered his head, shamefaced at his outburst, and the Avatar stepped in to break the tension.

"What happened to your son, when you were attacked?" Katara asked. "Did your brother try to kill him, too?"

She realized a heartbeat later that she'd let slip something she'd heard from Koh that Zuko hadn't been awake for at the time, but the damage was done. The prince turned to her, now more incredulous than angry.

"It was my father?" he asked, shocked. "He was the one? And he's dead now, too?" Katara nodded. "How do you know all of this?"

"Koh told me, back in there," she answered, gesturing over to the hollow, rotted tree. "You didn't hear it, but he said something about fratricide," Katara continued, her concern for her fiancé's state of mind showing plainly on her face. "I'm so sorry, Zuko."

"Don't apologize," the prince replied, his voice gentle now. "It's not your fault; it's my father's."

Iroh let the silence hang between them for a moment before he returned to Katara's earlier question, his expression grave.

"Lu Ten was also badly injured in the fighting," he said. "Ozai hit him with a blast of lightning in the back. He survived," Iroh added quickly, seeing the look on his nephew's face, "but he is still unconscious. Given the severity of the injury, I doubt he will wake for some time."

Koh's earlier words echoed in Katara's head, and she knew what she had to do.

"As soon as I get Zuko back to normal," she told Iroh with all the solemnity of a vow, "I'll go to the Fire Nation and help heal your son."

The Dragon of the West heard the sincerity in Katara's voice and smiled; this time, there was no sadness in it.

"You are a good and noble person, Avatar Katara," he said. "I am certain your example will inspire others across all of the Four Nations to put the scars of the War behind them."

Katara nodded, allowing herself a small smile of pride as she did so.

"That's what I'm hoping for, Sir," she said, and Iroh's smile widened for a moment before he sighed.

"It is time for us to part ways, sadly," he said. "I am sorry that our first meeting had to occur here, Katara; I would have liked to have shared some Jasmine tea with you."

The Avatar gave a small, bittersweet smile at the sentiment.

"It would have been my pleasure."

Iroh motioned the pair over with another smile, and Zuko and Katara walked towards the former Fire Lord. He held out his hands, and they each took one.

"Just a word of warning," Iroh said. "This is probably going to feel very uncomfortable for both of you."

"What—?" Zuko began to ask, before the ground seemed to liquefy underneath them and the trio sank like stones into the blackness.

Katara opened her eyes a moment later and gasped, not entirely sure what had just happened to them.

A quick glance around revealed that the scenery had changed completely; one moment more and the Avatar realized that Iroh had somehow brought them right to the lip of the strange rift she had passed through to get into the Spirit World in the first place. The South Pole lay spread out beneath them like a glittering white gem beneath the moonlight, set amidst the dark blue-black of the ocean. All that remained of Yon Rha's raid were a few dying plumes of smoke; no fires still burned on the shores of the Southern Water Tribe.

"I want you to know," Iroh spoke to Katara as she and Zuko walked over to the edge of the rift and prepared themselves for the journey back home, "that there is nothing Lu Ten regrets more than being the one to find the last Airbender."

The Avatar looked over her shoulder back to the Dragon of the West, her blue eyes understanding.

"Is there anything you want me to pass along?" she asked, and Iroh nodded.

"Tell him," he said as he began to vanish into the wind, "that I am the proudest father in the world."

Katara smiled wide.

"I'll make sure he knows," she said, before turning back to face Zuko. They shared a look, and there was no mistaking the worry in the prince's eyes.

"If this doesn't work out…"

"It will."

"But if it doesn't—"

"It'll be fine, Zuko. I know it."

"Please, just let me finish," he said earnestly, and Katara fell silent. "If this doesn't work out, I just want to tell you that you're the most incredible girl I've ever met. I really don't des—"

"Finish that sentence, and I swear the first thing I do once you wake up will be to smack you so hard your teeth fall out."

Zuko stopped cold for a heartbeat, before his eyes warmed again and he smiled.

"I love you."

Before Katara even had a chance to reply, Zuko stepped off the edge of the rift, taking her with him.

The world vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

The rustle of movement as the canvas curtain parted was enough to jolt Kya out of her light sleep. As she blinked quickly twice to clear her vision, she saw Lyra standing there, looking totally exhausted. The girl's eyes were bloodshot and worried, moving from Kya over to the two bodies lying side-by-side on Katara's bed and then back again.

"I couldn't sleep," Lyra said tiredly, answering Kya's question before she'd even asked it. She looked over at the bed once more, her gaze passing over Katara's still-breathing body to rest on Zuko's lifeless corpse. The prince had been put on his stomach so that the healers could work on patching up his damaged organs and burned flesh; making sure he could be given a clean, proper burial was the least the people of the Southern Water Tribe could do to honor Zuko's memory.

Lyra herself had been one of the people who'd helped reduce the only traces of the prince's injury to a pair of circular red scars on his back; she hadn't stopped trying to restore the charred flesh to normal until she'd almost passed out from the exertion. It had taken every healer in the village that wasn't looking after wounded soldiers working in constant shifts to get rid of the blackness—and it was only thanks to the wound being so recent that they were even able to do that much.

But the pair of red scars was still there, taunting them.

"When is Katara going to wake up?" Lyra asked, sitting down in the chair next to Kya and resting her head on her aunt's shoulder. "I thought Gran-Gran said she was going to wake up."

"Soon, sweetie," Kya said consolingly, putting her arm around her niece's shoulders and pulling her closer. "Soon."

Kanna had said that Katara's body exhibited all the signs of being halfway between life and death as only the Avatar could be—her spirit had traveled into the Spirit World, leaving her body behind in a state of prolonged restfulness until she returned to it. She was alive, but would not wake… and as much as she trusted Hakoda's mother, it was still painful to see her daughter like this.

Suddenly a pair of bright lights flashed briefly but intensely over the bed, fading almost as soon as they had appeared. It took Lyra and Kya a few moments to get their bearings back following the unexpected flare of light… and when they looked at the bed again, what they saw there made their hearts skip a beat in joy.

Katara was sitting up straight, her blue eyes open wide and fairly glowing with happiness and life as her mouth curved into a wide smile.

"Hey," she said. "I'm back."

"I'm so glad you're all right," Kya said at last, but she forced herself to temper her own relief at her daughter's safe return. After all, now she had to tell Katara that her betrothed had died of his wounds before any of the healers could save him. "But Zuko—"

"Zuko's fine," the Avatar cut her mother off, as simply as if she was announcing that putting one and one together gave you two. Lyra frowned.

"Katara," the young Waterbender said as evenly as she could, "Zuko isn't 'fine'. He's… he's dead."

"I know," Katara said easily, stretching her back out and sighing in satisfaction as the stiff joints and muscles resettled themselves. "Well, he _was_ dead, I guess. But like I said," the Avatar finished, reaching down and affectionately ruffling Zuko's messy hair, "he's fine now."

"Speak for yourself, Katara," the prince groaned from next to her, drawing shocked gasps from Kya and Lyra. "I feel like someone took a maul to my back."

"Well," the Avatar said cheerfully, still smiling, "at least those scars don't look nearly as bad as the first time I saw them. How long did all that healing take, mom?"

The direct question jolted Kya out of her stunned silence, her mind still working to understand how she had come to witness something that was so clearly impossible.

"You were dead," she said numbly, looking over at Zuko. "I saw the healers confirm it when we brought your body back here. How… Katara, what did you _do_?"

"I went to the Spirit World," the Avatar explained while Zuko rolled over onto his stomach, wincing as he sat up and tried to get used to the scar tissue that rendered parts of his back decidedly stiff. "There was an old spirit that had taken Zuko's spirit hostage, so I bargained with him for it."

Lyra closed her eyes and shook her head, giving up on trying to make sense of something that fell so completely into the category of 'Avatar Stuff'. Getting up out of her seat, she walked over to her cousin and pulled her into a fierce hug.

"Don't ever do something like that again," she said with quiet intensity, restrained tears making the edges of her voice waver. "I thought you were gone for good."

The words sobered Katara up instantly, and she returned the hug with equal strength.

"I'm sorry I made you worry like that," she said quietly. The memory of Lyra's parents brought a question to the front of the Avatar's thoughts, which she asked just as her mother left the room. "What happened to Yon Rha?"

"Your dad caved his ribcage in with a club, was what I heard," the young Waterbender said, her voice laced with dark satisfaction. "I just wish I could have been there to see it."

"I'm sure he died sniveling and pleading for his life," Zuko said disdainfully. "Cowards always do."

Katara opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by a burst of noise as Kya returned to the room with Hakoda, Sokka and Kanna in tow. The chieftain was the first one to Katara's side, drawing his daughter into her second heartfelt embrace of the night. Sokka looked over at Zuko, his face a blank mask of incomprehension.

"What is it?" the prince asked at last, unable to hide the hint of a smirk from his face. "Do you have something to say, Sokka?"

"… I think my brain just exploded, a little bit," the Water Tribe warrior said after a moment. "Weren't you dead a few minutes ago, Zuko?"

"Yeah; I was."

Sokka looked like he was trying to form a coherent way to reply to that, but in the end he just gave up and shook his head.

"Kya told us what you did," Kanna said to her granddaughter as Hakoda backed away and stood a few paces back from the bed, his eyes still wondering. "That was very, very brave of you, Katara. Honestly, I thought that at my age, I'd seen everything there was to see," the old woman continued, looking over at Zuko and smiling. "But if anyone was going to prove me wrong about that, I suppose it would have to be the Avatar."

Katara smiled, but her earlier exuberance had given way to seriousness as she remembered her promise to Iroh.

"I'm just sorry I made you all worry so much," she said, "but that was a trip I needed to take. I had to bring Zuko back, or at least try to."

"And you were right to do it," Kya assured her daughter, nodding firmly. "I'm sure Fire Lord Iroh will be quite impressed with what you accomplished tonight, sweetheart—and impressing the Dragon of the West is no small thing."

She had met her words as a compliment, and so Kya was puzzled when her daughter and the prince beside her suddenly looked incredibly mournful.

"What is it?" Hakoda asked, clearly sensing the shift in mood as well. "What's wrong?"

"My uncle was murdered," Zuko explained. "By my father. Lu Ten is Fire Lord now. Or I guess he will be," the prince finished wearily, "if he wakes up."

"Stop that," Katara scolded him. "Your cousin's going to be fine, Zuko; I brought you back _from the dead_—I think I can heal a lightning scar."

"Iroh is dead?" Kanna cut back in, sounding like she didn't want to believe it. Zuko nodded, and the older woman slouched over a bit where she stood. Sokka was there in an instant to support her, and Hakoda stepped in to fill the void.

"What happened to Ozai?"

"He's dead, too," Katara answered, wanting to give her fiancé a reprieve. "Whatever feuding was going on among the royal family, it looks like it's over."

"I just hope Ursa is all right," Kya said, worry for her old friend coming through clearly in her voice. Zuko gave her his best comforting smile.

"She is," he said with conviction. "If anything had happened to her, my uncle would have told us about it in the Spirit World."

Katara bit her tongue to keep from mentioning that Iroh hadn't told Zuko just who had killed his father, likely for the same reason that she had refrained from telling him about Koh's mention of 'patricide' in addition to 'fratricide'. The prince had enough to deal with for now without the knowledge that his sister had killed her own father—he could find that out later, once this fresh grief had subsided.

"Speaking of the Fire Nation," the Avatar spoke up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and getting to her feet at last, "Zuko and I need to get there as soon as possible. There's a chance Lu Ten's life might depend on it."

"And I don't suppose it could at least wait until morning?" Hakoda hazarded, and Katara shook her head. The chieftain nodded, biting back a sigh as he realized just how grown up his little girl had gotten. It made him proud, but also undeniably sad.

"Then I'll get the fastest ship we have ready for you," he said. "If you leave now, you should be able to get to the Fire Nation by daybreak."

"I'll make sure we do, dad," the Avatar said resolutely, the confidence that shined in her blue eyes the sign of a master Waterbender. "You don't have to worry about that."

"Hey, wait a minute," Sokka broke in, detaching himself from his grandmother as Kanna found her second wind. "If you and Zuko are going to the Fire Nation, I'm coming with you."

Katara frowned.

"We don't need a chaperone, Sokka. Zuko and I can handle ourselves just fine."

"I know that," her brother replied insistently, "but family sticks together, right? Besides, I've always wanted to visit the other Nations—and this is probably as good a chance for that as I'm gonna get."

Kya and Hakoda shared a look, neither of them happy about the prospect of becoming empty-nesters overnight. But they also knew that Sokka had his father's wanderlust... and that even if he didn't leave now, he wouldn't be able to stand the idea that his little sister was off somewhere having an adventure without him for very long.

"Your brother does have a point, Katara," Kya said placatingly. "It would be nice to have family with you while you're away from home."

"And don't worry; I won't get… in your way, or anything," Sokka said haltingly, like the thought of it alone caused him discomfort. "Trust me when I say the absolute _last_ thing I want to know about is your love life."

"Sokka!"

Katara was blushing indignantly, and Lyra took it upon herself to give her older cousin a solid _thwack_ on his arm.

"Ow!" Sokka said sharply. "What was that for? I was just being honest!"

The Avatar sighed; she knew her brother was a good, reliable person to have around, even if he did occasionally act like a total dork.

"You can come with us, Sokka," Katara said at last, "on one condition."

"What?"

"Get out of my room," she answered flatly. "I need to talk to Zuko. Alone."

Kanna and Lyra shared a knowing glance and, smirking, took Sokka by his arms and walked with him out of the room. Kya went next, but Hakoda lingered behind for a moment, smiling at Katara and Zuko.

"I'm so proud of you both," he said. "You especially, Zuko; you took a great risk fighting against soldiers from your own country, and the sacrifice you made to protect both us and my daughter was the greatest you could have possibly made on our behalf. And not only that, but it was a sacrifice you made voluntarily.

"I couldn't ask for a better son-in-law."

The chieftain turned and walked out of the room, leaving the prince and the Avatar alone again at last.

"See?" Katara said with a smile. "I told you he was a big softie."

Zuko looked over at her, and was about to say something when his fiancée cut him off with a kiss. It was sweet and tender and joyful, and as the prince sank into it he understood in his bones that Katara was thanking him for coming back to her. He returned the kiss, using the gesture to tell her how much he loved her: for being willing to risk the Face Stealer to rescue him from a fate worse than death; for giving him a chance to prove himself to her in the first place; for accepting him just how he was, and not asking for anything else.

They broke apart slowly and Katara smiled, letting her forehead rest against Zuko's as she looked into those wonderful amber eyes that were so full of life again. She had seen the light leave them once before, and the Avatar vowed to herself that it would never happen again if she could help it.

"I love you, too, Zuko."

* * *

…

…

**A/N:** So yeah; Zuko was, as **CrazyDyslexicNerd** pointed out in her review, only mostly dead. It felt good to write all of that happy Zutara goodness, and I hope you guys enjoyed it as well. We're creeping ever-closer to the end, and I'm truly grateful that you all have had the patience to stick around for so long. I really can't say enough how much I appreciate it.

Speaking of other things I appreciate immensely, I have to say that I'm still outright astonished by the outpouring of positive, encouraging feedback I got last chapter. I was really worried some of you would be angry at the character death, but you all proved me wrong in the most fantastic way possible. It was an amazing feeling to know that you guys and gals enjoyed the climax I'd been building to this whole time, and I honestly don't know how to express in words how thankful I am at all of your incredible reviews. Thank you so, so much.

On that note, it's time to thank this week's new reviewers, of which there are many. **N3phtys, princess yuei, BoogieBoy, WordBird343, WhiteInnocence, Kom'rk, Peace215,** and **Shoshana17. **Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to chime in; I think this is the highest number of new reviewers I've had since the first chapter of the story. You're all awesome.

And I'd be erring immensely if I didn't also thank, once again, **Masayume85 **and **Em Dixon** for looking over a few bits of this chapter and making sure they flowed well, in addition to catching one annoying continuity error. They're g-r-r-r-eat!

Time for next week's teaser, I suppose! I know I said there was going to be a Lu Ten scene in this chapter, but I ran out of time and space, so that'll go down next week once Katara arrives in the Fire Nation with Zuko and Sokka. Also happening will be Azula coming to grips with the fact that she killed her father, or at least trying to. In addition, we'll see what June, Jet and Mai are up to in Ba Sing Se as they prepare to move forward with their attack on Long Feng.**  
**

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Thank you all once more so very much for taking the time to read this story, and I hope to see you next week!

**- Jazz**


	19. Healing

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 19: **Healing

* * *

June sat silently at the bar in Oino's tavern, nursing a bad mood and a cup full of nothing but water. She had barely slept the past two nights, leaving her feeling like death warmed over on the morning of the Earth King's birthday. The day that, if everything went well, she would finally settle her oldest grudge by settling a knife right in Long Feng's stomach.

Taking a large gulp of water and cringing at how tasteless it was, the bounty hunter silently cursed and swore that the next time she saw Lu Ten, she was going to knock him out. Even if it turned out to be nothing, she was still going to knock him out just for scaring her like this.

June's introspection was broken when someone else sat down at the bar, taking the seat next to her. A quick glance revealed it was Mai, and a second glance told Oino not to worry about the stranger as the proprietor kept busying himself behind the bar.

"About time Jet told you where to find me," the bounty hunter said, trying to keep her voice free of grumpiness and not entirely succeeding. "After I didn't see you yesterday, I was worried you weren't going to show at all."

Mai sighed, accepting a plain drink that Oino put in front of her without comment and taking a long sip of it before saying anything.

"I would've been here yesterday, but that jerk told me I had to come alone... which is hard to do when you have three Dai Li agents following you around everywhere you go."

"And you're sure you lost them?" June asked pointedly, her muscles tensing on reflex at the thought of a direct confrontation with the cold-blooded Earthbenders.

"My father had a meeting earlier this morning with some big financial players," Mai explained. "The Dai Li were a lot more concerned with making sure the money was protected than they were with watching me."

The bounty hunter nodded, satisfied. A quick survey of the nearly-empty tavern showed that no new, unfamiliar faces had slunk into the place along with Mai, and June slowly let herself relax.

"I assume Jet didn't tell you what I wanted your help for?"

"He didn't say much more than, 'Go to Oino's tavern, sit at the bar and wait for someone to mention me if you don't want to go to jail for murder.' Real charmer."

June snorted at that, wondering how it was that no one inside the Dai Li had killed Jet yet just for running his mouth off.

"All right," the bounty hunter said with a sigh as she rose to her feet, leaving her cup of water on the bar unfinished. "Come with me."

The two of them walked up the stairs and into the room June was staying in, Mai taking a seat in an empty chair while the bounty hunter flopped down onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Here's the deal," June said after the silence between them had held for a few long moments, turning her head to face Mai. "What we're going to do tonight is dangerous, borderline treasonous, and could wind up getting all three of us killed. I'm just telling you that right now; full disclosure. Are you still interested?"

Mai shrugged.

"It doesn't look like I have much choice, one way or the other," the girl said. "But even if Jet wasn't trying to hold me over a barrel, I'd still do this. I've been bored out of my skull since the day we got here."

"It could involve fighting our way out of the Earth King's palace, if something goes wrong," the bounty hunter clarified. "And knowing Jet, it probably will."

Mai gave a small smile, a flicker of mischief dancing for a moment behind her pale amber eyes.

"Which would mean fighting through the Dai Li?"

"Yeah."

Mai's smile widened.

"Then I'm definitely interested," she answered. "What's the job?"

June sat up on the bed, forcing back a twinge of nostalgia as she remembered the moments she'd shared with Lu Ten back in his chambers.

"We're going to be going after the head of the Dai Li, Long Feng," she said. "I'll do the actual dirty work, so you don't have to worry about that; I just need you to watch my back before and after I make my move. If you can use your connection to your father to draw him into a private room for a conversation or something, so much the better."

Mai nodded.

"Easy enough," she said. "When is this happening, exactly?"

"Tonight," the bounty hunter answered as she rose to her feet. "During the Earth King's birthday celebration."

The girl frowned, her amber eyes narrowed slightly with misgiving.

"Really?" she asked at last. "That's a pretty public place to kill someone. Much higher risk of creating a panic that way."

Now it was June's turn to smile.

"Which is the perfect way to cover an escape," she said. "Trust me when I say this isn't the first time I've done something like this, kid."

The bounty hunter walked from the room, leaving Mai to follow behind her. The two of them returned downstairs to find a sour-faced young man sitting at the bar, a pair of hookswords strapped to his back.

"Well; if it isn't our boy himself, in the flesh," June said, her voice a little too cheerful to be sincere. "What's got you looking so glum this morning, Jet?"

"Real funny," Jet shot back, before continuing to drink something the two women could smell from all the way over at the foot of the staircase. "You try being on security detail for the Earth King's party a whole day and a half straight, then come tell me how good you feel. _And_ you still owe me for those drinks the other night, by the way."

"You really care that much about a few pieces of silver, I'll send 'em to you in a few weeks," the bounty hunter shot back blithely as she and Mai took seats on either side of Jet. "Lu Ten owes me a couple thousand gold pieces, and I'm sure I could spare a couple for you if you don't screw this up tonight."

"Lu Ten?" Jet echoed dryly, taking another sip of his drink. "Good luck collecting on that debt. He's as good as dead, even if he takes a long time to get there."

The sudden sinking feeling in her gut at the words was surpassed only by her confusion, and all traces of humor fled from June's expression in an instant.

"He's _what_?"

Her voice was low and dangerous, enough to make Jet sit up straight and drop his snarky attitude for a moment.

"You haven't heard?" he asked, mildly incredulous.

"We don't all have direct access to Long Feng's intelligence network, Jet," June said coldly. "What happened to the Crown Prince?"

"You mean 'Fire Lord', now," Jet said, taking another pull from his beer. "There was an attack on Iroh last night, led by his brother. Iroh and Ozai are both dead, and Lu Ten… well, no one knows, really.

"He's not dead yet, but Ozai apparently hit him with a bolt of lightning. He's still recovering from it— and if he ever gets back on his feet again, it probably won't be for a while."

June felt a chill creep through her limbs at the news, stunned into silence. She knew Lu Ten had been worried about what his uncle was up to: that was why he'd urged her to go to Ba Sing Se in the first place. But the knowledge that Ozai had actually been so bold as to make a move against the throne on his own still managed to rest on top of June's heart like a stone.

She felt her fear from earlier at the possibility that her future held turning into icy dread, not knowing if she'd be able to face a challenge like that alone.

"You all right, kid?" Oino's concerned voice broke into her thoughts, and June became vaguely aware that the three people around her were all giving her odd looks. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she nodded.

"I'll be fine," she said numbly. "He'll be fine. He promised."

"What?" the bartender asked, openly worried now. "June, what's wrong?"

The bounty hunter rose to her feet without another word, walking back up the stairs and calling back behind her as she reached her door.

"Nothing," she said flatly. "Wake me up when it's time to head to the palace."

June walked into her room and closed the door behind her, walking over and sitting down on her bed once again. Her hands curled into hard fists at her side and she willed herself to be calm, even as she began to shake.

* * *

Zuko woke up from his short, restless sleep just as the sun was beginning to color the sky, the very edge of it breaking out over the horizon to herald the coming day. He left his small cabin and walked back up to the main deck of the boat, immediately frowning at the sight that awaited him.

Katara was bending the water around the ship continuously, her arms performing smooth, seamless _kata_ that belied the dark, heavy circles under her eyes.

"Have you gotten any sleep at all since we left?"

The motions didn't even pause as the Avatar replied.

"No."

Zuko was going to throttle Sokka the moment he woke up.

"You can stop Waterbending," the prince said seriously. "We're almost there; the currents will get us the rest of the way in an hour, two at the most. Go to sleep."

"I'm fine."

"Katara, please," Zuko said softly, walking over and putting his hand on her shoulder, "take a break. You won't be able to help my cousin at all if you're too exhausted to heal him once we get there."

Slowly but surely the Avatar relented, lowering her arms with a quietly exhausted sigh. Zuko pulled her into a gentle embrace, resting his chin against her shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you," he told her. "More than I can say. You don't have to prove anything to me; not now, not ever."

Katara said nothing for a few moments, simply contenting herself with the comforting feeling of Zuko's warmth as it eased the ache in her tired muscles. She'd been pushing herself far harder than she cared to admit, and now that her focus was broken her arms were letting her know just how little they appreciated being strained to the breaking point.

"I'm so sorry about your uncle," she spoke at last, feeling Zuko sigh against her at the words.

"I am, too," he said softly. "I just can't believe he's… _gone_. There were so many things I wanted to ask him, so many things I wanted to learn…"

The prince's voice wavered around the edges, and a heartbeat later all of the grief he'd been trying to bottle up began to flow freely.

"He was my real father," Zuko said between suppressed sobs, and Katara just held him, running a hand gently through his hair. "As much as Lu Ten is like a brother to me. Ozai didn't raise me—they did. They cared when he never did."

Katara held her silence as her fiancé's tears ran their course, moving her other hand up to stroke gently along his back.

"He still does care," the Avatar said at last, "and he'll always be proud of you. He'll always love you, Zuko. I can promise you that."

The prince was quiet as he composed himself, taking in a shaky breath before letting it out in a slow, controlled sigh.

"Thank you, Katara," he said with a smile as he stepped back, keeping his hands on her shoulders. She smiled in kind.

"You don't have to thank me," she said, fingering the large stone that hung at the center of her betrothal necklace. "That's what this means, right?"

Zuko's smile widened, and he moved forward again to kiss her. Katara joined him gladly, the two of them overjoyed simply by the fact that, after everything that had tried to come between them, they still had each other.

"Now please," the prince said after they broke apart, his amber eyes pleading, "go get some sleep."

The Avatar looked like she was about to argue the point for a moment, but her own body betrayed her as she opened her mouth and nothing came out but a massive yawn.

"Okay," she said with a playful frown after Zuko arched an eyebrow. "You win. Wake me up when we get there."

"Of course," the prince answered with a smile, placing a tender kiss on her forehead. "Sweet dreams."

Katara left without another word, heading back below-deck. She only paused long enough to turn her head back over her shoulder and smile at Zuko, before walking down the steps and disappearing completely.

The prince stood on the deck and looked silently out at the horizon, where the tallest buildings in the Fire Nation were just now beginning to appear. It felt in some ways like a lifetime had gone by in the week since he'd left— and in one way, Zuko reflected with a bitter smile, that was literally true. Being in the South, even just for a few days, had changed his perspective on the Water Tribes completely.

Perhaps his uncle had come to a similar understanding, during his longer time there? The prince found himself smiling as he imagined the sight of Fire Lord Iroh bundled up in layers of Water Tribe clothing, like some enormous blue dumpling. The image evolved and suddenly a young version of his mother was there, telling her future brother-in-law how distinguished she thought he looked.

Zuko's smile grew into an actual chuckle for a moment, but it trailed off as the prince's thoughts turned to the surviving members of his family. Had his mother escaped his father's plotting unscathed? Had Azula? He couldn't imagine that his father would do anything this radical without his favorite child by his side… but then why hadn't his uncle mentioned her, back in the Spirit World? Had he passed Azula over on purpose? Was she all right?

These thoughts and others swirled tempestuously around in Zuko's mind, and the prince didn't leave his reverie until the sharp sensation of the boat slamming into one of the royal port's docks snapped him out of it. He wasted no time in grabbing a length of rope, vaulting over the side of the boat and tying it around the mooring, securing their vessel where it was. The sudden stop had apparently also jolted Katara and Sokka awake, because the Water Tribe siblings emerged from below-decks a few moments later, shading their eyes against the dawn light of the morning sun.

"I must say, Prince Zuko," a gruff, tired voice spoke out from behind the Firebender, "that I wasn't expecting your homecoming to be so… secretive."

Zuko turned around and saw Jeong Jeong standing there, accompanied by a small group of soldiers under his command. "You could have at least sent ahead word of your arrival."

"My apologies if I worried you or anyone else, Master," Zuko answered with a respectful bow as Sokka and Katara walked down from the ship to join the prince on the shore, "but sending word ahead of us was the last thing on our minds, after we heard what had happened here."

The admiral's expression shifted at once, his fatigue giving way to surprise.

"You know what occurred last night?" he asked. Zuko answered him with nothing more than a heavy nod, amber eyes dark with sympathy and empathy.

"Yeah, and we didn't exactly have an easy time of it either, thanks to you," Sokka broke in, much to the bemusement of the veteran soldiers who had no idea what this Water Tribe boy was doing on their shores. "Yon Rha and his raiders almost burned down our village!"

"Yon Rha?" Jeong Jeong repeated, now more baffled than shocked. "What are you talking about, boy? That man was banished years ago. To even speak his name here is criminal!"

"He's telling the truth, Sir," Katara stepped in with a respectful bow, after giving her brother a sharp elbow in the side to make sure he didn't keep talking. "General Ozai had orchestrated the whole thing. My father killed Yon Rha in a duel, though, and we drove the rest of the raiders off."

Jeong Jeong paused for a moment to gaze searchingly at this new speaker, just as she did the same thing to him in return. She was a strong girl, by the looks of her, with more steel in her eyes and bearing than the admiral had seen in quite some time. The next thing to catch his eye was the necklace she was wearing… it was made in the style of Water Tribe betrothal jewelry, but the design was unmistakably Fire Nation…

He glanced over at Zuko, his eyes widening with a single, hesitantly hopeful question. The prince answered him with a small smile and nod, and the admiral took a step back, bowing immediately.

"Avatar Katara," he said lowly. "Please forgive me; I didn't recognize you."

Katara was quick to dismiss the deference with an abashed cough, and had to fight back a blush as the other soldiers followed their commander's suit.

"There's nothing to forgive at all," she assured him. "And you can stop with the bowing, too; it's not my style."

Jeong Jeong and the others rose, the admiral now looking at Katara with a mixture of respect and curiosity.

"I take it, then," the admiral said at last, "that you also know what happened to Lu Ten?"

The Avatar nodded, and the older Firebender shook his head in wonderment.

"I would ask how all of this is possible," he continued, "but right now we cannot afford to delay. If anyone can help heal the new Fire Lord," Jeong Jeong finished, a note of sadness coming into his voice at the title, "I have no doubt that it is you, Avatar."

Katara nodded resolutely, and the admiral could see what had so enraptured his young student. Her intensity was as much a Firebender's as anything.

"I'll do my best," she replied. "Just take me to him."

Jeong Jeong smiled; perhaps not all was lost.

"Of course."

As the group made their way toward the palace, the admiral glanced over at Zuko and noticed that the prince seemed to have grown a few inches over the past week. He was finally carrying himself with pride, back straight and head high, rather than walking with the dull slump that seemed to weigh him down whenever his father or sister had so much as been in the same room. It filled Jeong Jeong with quiet pride to see that his unsure, chronically self-deprecating student had finally matured into a confident young man… no doubt helped along the way by the girl walking beside him.

The admiral's thoughts were derailed as the prince suddenly lurched forward, hissing in pain as the muscles in his back seemed to convulse. The Avatar braced him immediately, concern plain in her eyes.

"Are you all right?" she asked, and Zuko gave a strained nod—although he did not push her away.

"I'll be fine," he insisted, but Jeong Jeong could tell from the slight change in his posture that Zuko was glad for the support. "It's probably just the change in weather making these wounds act up; they're still fresh."

"Don't push yourself," Katara cautioned him. "We'll get there soon anyway, unless I have to stop and heal you if that scar-tissue opens up again."

Zuko nodded once and the pair of them continued on, the prince keeping one arm around Katara's shoulder the rest of the way to the palace entrance. The guards at the gate tensed for a moment at the sight of the unfamiliar visitors, but relaxed as soon as they recognized Jeong Jeong.

"Admiral," one of them said formally, standing at attention. "You've returned," finished the other. "Who are…" the words died in the soldier's throat as soon as he noticed Zuko.

"My lord Prince," the first guard picked up, bowing. "Welcome home. We… did not recognize you in blue," she finished, giving a small, slightly sheepish smile.

"Your cousin is resting in his quarters," Jeong Jeong told Zuko. "Unfortunately, I must return to my duties. But before I go," the admiral finished, looking over at Sokka, "I would request that you please pass my deepest thanks on to your father, boy. Yon Rha was a blight upon the Fire Nation— with him, Commander Zhao and General Ozai gone, it is my hope that Fire Lord Azulon's legacy has well and truly died."

"Commander Zhao died as well?" Zuko asked, surprised. "What _happened_ last night?"

"I will leave that for your mother to explain, Prince," Jeong Jeong said with a nod. "For now, farewell. Avatar," he added, turning to Katara, "it was an honor to meet you. I look forward to seeing how well my pupil has taught you Firebending."

Katara bowed, and followed Zuko as the guards let the prince through into the palace atrium. The atmosphere was silent and somber to the point of oppression; the air felt leaden even though the halls all seemed deserted.

"This place is enormous," Sokka said, with an almost reverential tone. "It looks like it could be its own city."

Zuko nodded, continuing to lead the way towards his cousin's room.

"The palace was built to be able to support itself, in case a siege cut it off from the rest of the capital," he explained. "So yeah; I guess it does have everything a city would need."

The Avatar walked alongside her fiancé and her brother in silence, gazing around the halls of the palace and trying to make sense of an odd twinge nagging at her in the back of her mind.

It was only when they passed by a painted scroll hung on the wall that the twinge intensified and Katara could recognize it; what she felt almost stopped her dead in her tracks.

It was familiarity. This felt just like coming home.

"Zuko," she said at last, trying to keep her voice even. "Avatar Roku; he lived in a room nearby here, didn't he?"

"He did," the prince answered slowly, arching an eyebrow. "How did you…" his voice trailed off and his eyes widened as Zuko put the pieces together. "Katara, are you saying you remember bits and pieces of Roku's life?"

The Avatar shook her head, waiting until the strange twinge had subsided completely before replying.

"Not memories, no," she answered. "Just… feelings, I guess; really faint ones. Roku must have really loved it here."

Zuko nodded, wondering if the feelings Katara was speaking about were a consequence of her journeying into the Spirit World to save him.

"Come on," he said at last, gesturing with his hand down another hallway. "We're almost there."

The trio made their way down the last hall... but Zuko's pace slowed as he saw someone standing in front of Lu Ten's door, blocking the way. It was a girl, younger than Azula by the look of her; as they approached, she whipped her head over in their direction and stared at them. The prince was surprised to see that she was blind, but Zuko didn't even have the chance to get a word out before the girl started talking.

"Who are you?" she snapped, on edge at once and slipping immediately into what Zuko recognized as an Earthbending stance. "What do you want?"

Katara stepped forward, calm and poised in spite of the girl's rough greeting.

"My name is Katara," she introduced herself. "I'm the Avatar. And I'd like to help heal the Fire Lord, if you'll allow me."

The young Earthbender's demeanor changed completely at the realization that one of the newcomers was the Avatar; she flashed Katara a huge smile and shifted out of her bending stance, plainly relieved.

"It's about time you got here!" she said, moving away from the door. "My name's Toph. After you get Lu Ten back on his feet, I'm gonna teach you Earthbending. I hope you're ready for it; I don't go easy on people."

The Avatar smiled, her eyes bright at the challenge.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Toph."

Katara took one more breath and opened the door, stepping into the room as she let her honed healing instincts come to the forefront of her mind. Lu Ten was lying on a bed, and the pale, almost waxy look of his skin sent a chill lancing through the Avatar. The Fire Lord was shivering periodically in his restless sleep, alive but still un-waking. Katara began to move over to the bedside, only to be stopped by the rough words of an old man dressed in large, religious-looking red robes and wearing a very strange oblong hat.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, girl?"

There were few things that annoyed Katara more than having to answer the same question twice, and she snapped out a reply before Ursa could even explain the situation from her place along the wall.

"I'm the Avatar," she said impatiently, "and I'm going to save the Fire Lord's life. Do you have a problem with that?"

"_You're_ the Avatar?" the older man asked suspiciously, his voice surly and expression pompous. "Prove it."

Fed up with the way the conversation was going, Katara wasted no time in pulling some water from a nearby basin into one of her hands and igniting a large flame in the other.

"Satisfied?" she asked the stunned man pointedly, not even waiting for a reply before extinguishing her flame and walking the rest of the way to Lu Ten's side. The Avatar brought over more water to join what she was already carrying, gathering it around her hands and using it to cover Lu Ten's chest up to his neck. Katara settled in with a sigh, letting her _chi_ flow into the water and tinge it with the white, telltale healing glow.

She could feel the Fire Lord's own _chi_ coursing beneath the water, and the Avatar grimaced at the chaotic state of it. Ozai's lightning had wreaked havoc on Lu Ten's body: this went way beyond the jumbled _chi_ she'd fixed in Zuko's arm, or the internal damage she'd patched up in his gut. Two of Lu Ten's chakras were completely locked up, and they were causing the flow of his energy to stagnate. It was slowly poisoning him… and if the chakras weren't unlocked soon, the backflow of _chi_— combined with the trauma from the injury Katara could feel on his back— would overwhelm his body and kill him.

And since the Fire Lord was unconscious, it fell to Katara to unlock his chakras on her own. That was one of the few things she'd never fully learned how to do in those healing lessons she'd taken as a girl, since chakras locking up was a rare occurrence only brought on by a grievous injury. But she was likely the only person in the entire Fire Nation who could do it, and so do it she would.

"We need to get Lu Ten out of this bed and upright," the Avatar said commandingly. "His Fire and Earth Chakras are locked, and if I don't fix that he'll die."

The pompous old man looked like he was about to speak up again, but this time it was Ursa who cut him off.

"Do as the Avatar instructs, Fire Sage Poru," she said with an intensity that took Katara aback. "If you don't, and I lose another family member because of your negligence, I will see that your head adorns the wall of this palace before midday."

Poru shut up at once, tacitly ordering the other Fire Sages in the room to lift the Fire Lord out of his bed. Katara winced as she briefly glimpsed the severity of the wound on Lu Ten's back, but forced herself to stay focused. She saw that there was no way to keep him upright without people holding him in position, which would get very distracting very fast.

Then a thought occurred to her, and the Avatar allowed herself a small smile.

"Toph!" she called out. "I need your help with something!"

The Earthbender rushed into the room, Zuko taking the opportunity to follow along behind her. He saw his mother and went over to her, while Toph approached Katara and stood at the ready.

"What can I do for you?"

"Could you pull up a slab of rock?" Katara asked. "I need something to lean the Fire Lord up against, while I work on setting his chakras straight."

Toph smiled and stomped one of her feet against the smooth stone floor, causing a wide section of it to rise straight into the air.

"That good enough?" the Earthbender asked, still smiling, and the Avatar nodded.

"Perfect."

Lu Ten was propped up against the rock, and now Katara had a clear, close look at the scar on his back. The sight was horrifying in and of itself, but what was even more disturbing to the Avatar was the thought that this had been done by a member of the Fire Lord's own family. Seeing the extent of Ozai's ruthlessness carved into Lu Ten's back was enough to make Katara understand why Zuko had despised his father as much as he had.

Pushing away her sadness and revulsion, the Avatar called the water back to her hands and set to work again. Knitting flesh and muscle back together was straightforward; she'd been doing that much for the better part of a decade. Working through the added barrier to get a clearer sense of the Fire Lord's _chi_ flow made things more difficult— but jolting him back to reality with a large chunk of his back still missing would have risked Lu Ten's body shutting down from shock anyway. And right now, that wasn't a risk Katara wanted to take.

Sighing, she let her concentration follow the flow of her own _chi_ down into the glowing water, shutting out everything from her awareness except the currents of energy she needed to set right. The Avatar let her own energy merge with the Fire Lord's, gently guiding it where it needed to go. The Fire Chakra in his stomach was the first obstacle; Katara could feel it knotted up on itself, contorted by the raw energy of the lightning. Splitting her _chi_ into several small threads, she wove them into the small pathways that remained open in the chakra, little cracks that glowed with energy just begging to be released. The Avatar carefully eased into the locked nexus, making absolutely sure she'd covered every inch of it…

And then she twisted.

The rush of energy was disarming in its speed and shocking in its intensity. But Katara held firm as the torrent of _chi_ flowed out through Lu Ten's body, flushing away most of the stagnant, poisonous energy. The Earth Chakra came next, and it seemed to have responded well to its companion's unsealing: the Avatar had a much easier time working her way into it, but still paused before giving it the final torsion.

"This is probably going to feel like getting shot with lightning again," she said quietly to the Fire Lord. "If you can hear me in there, I'm sorry."

Taking a breath, Katara opened the second chakra.

The flow of raw, unbridled _chi_ was so strong this time that the Avatar was thrown completely out of her trance, the water splashing limply to the floor as she reeled slightly backwards. Once Lu Ten's body had taken control of itself again, the power of his _chi_ had been nothing short of dominating. Katara was vaguely aware of Zuko at her side, making sure she didn't fall over. She could hear the Fire Lord drawing in large, gasping breaths, and knew that she'd kept her promise to Iroh.

Letting the exhaustion free that had been gnawing at the edges of her mind since they'd left the South Pole, the Avatar fell into the welcoming arms of sleep.

* * *

This was a dream. It had to be.

Or, more accurately, a nightmare.

Because there was no other conceivable way, Azula told herself, that she could be having tea with a dead man.

"I should have killed you myself yesterday," he said, his face miraculously restored and only bearing a few bruises as testament to the brutalization it had received at his daughter's own hands. "I knew you would betray me."

The princess took a measured sip of tea, fighting down her anger.

"Would you really have challenged me to an Agni Kai?"

Ozai seemed surprised by the question at first, but then as the wheels turned behind his glassy eyes he put the pieces together and laughed.

"Ah; so you heard that, did you?" he asked at last, and Azula nodded. "I see. Yes, that explains things. Whatever good that does me now, anyway."

The princess waited for her father to answer her question— but as he kept on sipping his tea in smug silence, her impatience won out over her control.

"Would you really have challenged me to an Agni Kai?" she repeated, more forcefully this time. Her father looked her dead in the eye: the father she had tried so hard to please for so many years…

And he laughed in her face.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" he spat scornfully. "Of course I would have. If my brother and your rat of a cousin hadn't worn me down, and if you hadn't chosen to attack me like a miserable little coward, I would have burned you to a crisp last night. Nothing would be left of you now but your ashes, and the stink of your failure."

Azula let the words sink into her as she sat there, silent, and the princess felt something inside of her shatter.

"Everything I ever did," she said quietly, her voice gaining strength with each word, "I did it for you. To make you proud of me. Do you have any idea how many times I skinned my knuckles down almost to the bone, practicing hand-to-hand combat? Do you have any idea what it feels like to have lightning blow up in your face, and to have to treat your burns yourself because you can't bear to admit to anyone that you didn't get something perfect on your first try?

"Do you know how much I _sacrificed_ for you?" Azula finished, now on her feet and screaming at her father. "Would it have killed you to say you loved me, even _once_?"

Ozai weathered the storm of raw emotion with no outward reaction at all. And when he did finally speak, his tone was frozen solid.

"I have only ever loved one person in my entire life," he said evenly, "and it was not you."

Azula dove across the table with an inhuman snarl, reaching for her father's throat. But she passed right through him, tumbling to the ground behind him as Ozai laughed mockingly.

"Just like I thought," he said as the princess felt bitter, salty tears run down her cheeks and sobs wracked her again. "Fight me face-to-face, and you're too weak to even touch me."

The princess could not rise again, and the harsh sound of her father's laughter rang in her ears until she couldn't take any more and shut everything out of her mind, retreating into the silent darkness.

"_Azula? Azula, are you all right? Azula!"_

The concerned voice called out to her, piercing through the shell she'd put up and reaching the devastated princess. She knew that voice; knew in her bones whom it belonged to. Azula reached out to it, letting it take her away from this nightmare.

"That's right; run away," Ozai called after her spitefully. "You're no better than your brother."

_Better him than you,_ Azula told herself as the world around her shrunk to a point, before vanishing completely.

"You're awake," Hanzo's voice spoke again, and the princess could hear the relief in it. "You scared me, Azula. That must have been some nightmare."

She waited for her senses to return completely before blinking and looking over at the young man sitting by her bed, giving him a weary smile.

"It was," she said, "but that's all." The princess paused for a moment, not sure how to express the tangle of emotions still lingering in her heart. "Thank you," she finished at last, and Hanzo arched an eyebrow as his hand found hers.

"For what?"

Azula's smile widened, and she shook her head.

"Nothing," she said, feeling an odd warmth where there had been only a cold chill within her nightmare. No one had ever given her something like this before, such unconditional care and understanding. It was a feeling she could get used to.

Hanzo's hand tightened around hers for a moment as he hissed in pain, his free hand moving to hold his wounded side.

"You're hurt," the princess said evenly, too tired to put any accusatory weight behind her words. "Why aren't you resting?"

"I'll be fine," the branded prince grit out, sighing as the discomfort passed. "It's on the mend; those doctors did a good job. Being awake when you woke up was more important."

Azula felt another small spike of warmth at the sentiment, but pushed it out of her mind and gave Hanzo her best stern frown.

"Don't be ridiculous," she chided him. "Your body still needs time to heal; I just need some time."

The branded prince smiled and nodded, rising slowly to his feet.

"As you command, Princess," he said with mock formality, earning him a playful smack on the thigh.

"Stop that."

Hanzo's eyes glinted as he walked around to the empty bed sitting adjacent to Azula's, climbing into it carefully and settling under the covers with a contented sigh. The pair was silent for several moments, each of them lost in their own thoughts as the branded prince tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep and the princess did her utmost to stay awake.

"I don't feel any regret for what I did," Azula said at last, her voice quiet. "Does that make me a monster?"

Hanzo held his silence, picking his next words very carefully.

"Why should you regret killing someone like Ozai?" he countered. "He might be your father by blood, but the way I see it? Anyone who would be willing to kill their own children over politics gives up their right to be called a father. Believe me; I've been there.

"What you did last night, Azula, that was incredibly brave of you. You _do_ realize that you pretty much single-handedly prevented the War from starting up all over again, right?"

The princess gave a bitter chuckle at that, but there was no anger in her; Azula's eyes held nothing but sadness.

"And I'm sure everyone loyal to my father will be so grateful for that," she said. "I'll be lucky if they don't try to assassinate me in revenge before the week is over."

"Your cousin wouldn't let that happen," the branded prince said firmly, "and you know it."

"Maybe not," Azula allowed. "But it's not like they build celebratory statues for patricides, Hanzo. Do you know what the punishment for kin-slaying is in the Fire Nation?"

"I spent years working in the library, Azula," he reminded her with a frown. "Of course I know what the punishment is. And I also know the Fire Lord can grant a total pardon to anyone they judge deserves it."

"A pardon the Fire Sages can overturn, if they vote against it in a majority," the princess countered, unwilling to concede the argument. "How many of those old bastards do you think my father appointed to their positions?"

Hanzo sighed, not sure if it hurt worse arguing with Azula like this, or hearing her rip herself to shreds for doing the right thing.

"What do you want me to tell you?" he asked her, exasperated. "That you're a terrible person? That you're a monster? That your mother doesn't love you, and you got rid of the only person who would ever appreciate you when you killed Ozai? Would hearing those lies coming out of someone else's mouth actually make you feel better, or do you want to stop turning yourself around in circles?"

"I don't _know_ what I want!" Azula shouted back, sitting up straight on the bed, and Hanzo was surprised to hear her sounding truly afraid for the first time. "I spent my whole life trying to do what _he_ wanted; I never did anything for myself! And now he's dead, and I… I don't know what to do," the princess continued, her voice wavering as tears threatened again at the corners of her eyes. "I don't know what to do. He always told me what to do."

Hanzo had gotten to his feet as soon as he'd sensed that Azula was coming close to her breaking point, and he was at her side right when the walls crumbled and she started to cry. He sat down next to her and held her against him, letting the princess weep until she had no more tears to shed.

"No one has to tell you what to do, Azula," he said gently. "You can make your own choices, now. And whatever you do, wherever you choose to go, I'll be right there with you."

The princess was still for a moment, but then Hanzo felt her give a strained chuckle against his shoulder and his heart lightened immediately.

"You really do love me," Azula asked, pulling away just far enough to look him in the eyes, "don't you?"

"Are you serious?" he countered, reaching up and wiping away a final stray tear from her cheek. "Of course I do."

"I want to hear you say it," she insisted, amber eyes unyielding even as they were rimmed with red. Others might have seen it as petulance, but Hanzo understood that Azula had likely never heard her father say those words, and had probably never let herself believe her mother truly meant them whenever she'd told her.

"I love you, Azula," he said, and then he smiled. "Thanks for not cutting me off that time."

The princess gave a thin smile in return at that, before heaving a sigh that seemed to draw all of the energy out of her and sniffling.

"I must look like a mess," she groaned, falling back down onto her pillow and staring up at the ceiling. Hanzo smiled again.

"A very beautiful mess," he said, and Azula shot him a deadpan look.

"Stop talking and go to sleep, before you really embarrass yourself," she said, unable to keep a smile from playing about the corners of her mouth.

"At once, my Lady," Hanzo said with a bow as he rose, and the princess frowned at him.

"I thought I told you to stop that."

The branded prince smiled mischievously.

"No," he corrected her as he walked around to his bedside once again, "you told me to stop calling you 'Princess'. That's not what I called you; was it, your Highness?"

"You're impossible," Azula said, now smiling warmly, as Hanzo settled into his bed again.

"Like you'd have it any other way," he shot back, before closing his eyes and sighing. "I'm sure this'll all work out fine, Azula."

The princess could tell from his breathing pattern that Hanzo had fallen asleep instantly, and so she held her silence.

But even if the Fire Sages did overturn Lu Ten's pardon and sentence her to banishment, Azula realized that she wouldn't particularly care. Hanzo had already told her that he would be at her side regardless of where she went, and he knew full well what banishment meant.

As long as she had someone by her side who would be willing to love and accept her for who she was, unreservedly, then that was enough for her.

* * *

Long Feng secretly detested parties. He hated all the fawning dignitaries from around the Earth Kingdom bowing and scraping to their King, as if that lackwit Kuei wielded any real power at all. He hated the inane small talk, the shrill women and fat men with their annoying laughs, and he hated that buffoonish, hat-wearing bear.

But most of all, he hated the fact that glorious, nigh-omnipotent general Ozai had gone and gotten himself killed like an utterly incompetent fool. Years of work and careful plotting, all undone by a single hasty, ill-conceived attempt to grab power.

It would take all the alcohol in the Upper Ring to lighten his mood… and even then, the Grand Secretariat considered, it would be a close thing. Without Ozai alive to command his sizable part of the Fire Nation army, there was no way Long Feng would ever emerge victorious from a war against the Fire Lord. He would have to content himself with just Ba Sing Se, pulling the strings on his puppet king while living under the ever-present shadow of the Fire Nation occupation.

Of course, for Iroh— and presumably for Lu Ten after him— the Fire Nation presence in the capitol would always be strictly a peace-keeping, facilitating force; broad government decisions would remain in Kuei's hands, which was right where the Grand Secretariat wanted them. But where most Earth Kingdom citizens saw a few pesky tax collectors and merchant convoys wearing red and black, Long Feng saw eyes that never closed: thorns he would never be able to take out of his side.

Pushing aside political ruminations for the moment, Long Feng returned his attention to the meal before him. The second course had been swept away and replaced by a succulent meat dish, although the Grand Secretariat found his nose wrinkling at the smell of cardamom.

He hated cardamom. Whoever signed off on that addition would get a one-way trip to Lake Laogai, where Long Feng would personally see to their entombment within one of the subterranean rock walls.

He was only three bites into the meat when his stomach rumbled portentously, and the Grand Secretariat had to excuse himself from the table. Long Feng had no doubt that it was the cardamom that had upset his stomach; he redoubled his resolve to find and punish the person responsible as he made his way through a side door and towards the closest chamber pot, accompanied by a member of the Dai Li. The next room over was spacious, with a fire burning in a hearth on one of the far walls, and Long Feng focused on the pleasant sound of the crackling flames to distract himself from his slowly-mounting discomfort.

After what felt like a small eternity, he reached a narrow stall that housed a chamber pot and opened the oaken door, closing it behind him and locking it with a latch while his guard waited outside. The Dai Li agent was silent as a statue, eyes completely focused as he stood tense and ready for anything or anyone that might try to harm his commander.

A flash of movement just barely visible among the long shadows at the side of the room opposite the hearth caught the Dai Li's eye, and his expression hardened in a rare moment of outward emotion.

"Who's there?" he called out, turning towards where he'd seen the disturbance. When no one replied, the agent began to walk towards the shadows in tight, controlled steps—

Only to feel the wind be knocked out of his gut as a knife slammed into his side with the force of a punch behind it. A hand clapped over his mouth before he could make a sound, and his world went black in a rush of pain.

Mai lowered the body to the ground slowly, making sure it didn't _thud_ as she laid it against the carpet. June walked out of the shadows a moment later, clad in a rough-spun gray traveler's robe in order to remain as unmemorable as possible. The two women shared a glance as they advanced silently on Long Feng's stall, June's apologetic gray eyes met with Mai's indifferent amber ones. Even though the bounty hunter had assured her that she would be the one to handle all of the dirty work, Mai didn't mind doing some of it at all. She'd run a few cloak-and-dagger jobs for Azula over the years to escape the crushing boredom that normally characterized her life, and had found that she quite enjoyed the instinctive thrill of the hunt. It was a challenge, and Mai didn't get those nearly often enough.

The two women flanked the stall, and were rewarded for their patience a few moments later when the oaken door swung open again with a small _creak_. It blocked Mai's line of sight, but June still had a clear view of right where Long Feng would emerge. She drew a knife from her hip that she'd borrowed from Mai once they'd entered the palace, waiting tensely for the right moment to strike.

The Grand Secretariat walked out of the stall and sighed with relief. It took him a heartbeat to realize that his guard wasn't where he'd been a few moments ago, and another heartbeat after that to register that the agent's corpse was lying in a pool of blood on the floor.

And those two heartbeats were all June needed.

"Long Feng," the bounty hunter said with acidic smoothness as she placed the knife against his throat, her eyes gleaming in the firelight. "It's been too long."

"Who are you?" the Grand Secretariat shot back, fearless even as June dragged him forward a few steps in order to let Mai regain her line of sight. The bounty hunter laughed, but there was no humor in the sound.

"I guess I shouldn't expect you to remember a poor, helpless little dead girl, should I?" June breathed, pressing the blade against Long Feng's neck hard enough to draw blood. "Especially not when you hunted down all the rest of her friends like animals after the Fire Nation broke through our walls."

Realization dawned on the Grand Secretariat as the voice and the story it told finally triggered some memories from long, long ago, and he laughed bitterly in turn.

"So, the last of the Vipers is home to nest," he said. "There's no way you'll make it out of here alive, once the palace is locked down. You came a long way just to die, June."

"No," June said with a caustic smile, "I came a long way just to kill you."

The bounty hunter drew the knife across Long Feng's throat with practiced ease, stepping back from the man as he staggered in pain before burying the knife in his gut and leaving it there.

Long Feng crumpled to the ground, gurgling pathetically. June and Mai shared another look as the Grand Secretariat breathed his last, silently congratulating each other on a job well done.

"That was a lot easier than I thought it'd be," the bounty hunter said at last, before jerking her head towards the banquet hall. "Come on; let's go."

The pair walked back out into the main hall, where a feast, a rollicking bear and gales of amused laughter awaited them.

Mai locked the door to the side room with a couple of well-placed knives, and then the two women made their way through the crowd and out the exit of the palace. By the time anyone discovered where Long Feng's body had wound up, the two of them would be long gone.

* * *

…

…

**A/N: **And so the resolution commences! We're coming down the home stretch now, guys and gals. Thank you all for sticking it out this far, and hope bringing all of this to a close proves as much fun for you to read as it is for me to write!

If Long Feng's exit here seemed a bit... expedited, that's because he was originally meant to survive 'Twist' and act as an antagonist for a sequel I was planning on writing, which I'm no longer intending to do (don't panic, though; I have something else up my sleeve!). So I found myself faced with an unexpected loose end I needed to tie up; one I hadn't exactly been planning on. And that's pretty much that.

And now I suppose we know what Ozai was up to when Zuko, Katara and Iroh were talking to each other in the Spirit World, for those of you who were wondering about that. Even from beyond the grave, Ozai manages to be a terrible person. Quite the feat, that.

Okay, now it's time for new reviewer thank-yous! This week, we have **ThisIsTrueImmortality** and **FountOfNostalgia**. Thanks to both of you for chiming in! And since **Fount** left their review anonymously, I'll have to write a reply of sorts to it here. I just wanted to give them enormous props for not only recognizing the allusion last chapter to Orpheus and Eurydice, but then going above and beyond the call of duty and referring to Zuko as a grammatically-correct, masculine version of Eurydice (Euridykos, for those of you wondering). That made the classicist in me go over the moon; just getting that out there.

And I'd be terribly remiss if I didn't also give thanks to both **Masayume85 **and **Em Dixon** for their constant reviewing of snippets and general encouragement throughout the writing of this chapter, as per usual. If you haven't already, go read their stuff. It's really solid. Particularly profound thanks are owed to Masayume this chapter, because if she hadn't pushed me to flesh it out a bit more, the Azula/Hanzo scene probably wouldn't have turned out as nearly in-depth as it did. So yeah.

So, I suppose it's teaser time now! Next week, June and Mai return to the Fire Nation, Zuko and Katara explain what happened down South, and a dispute over the new Fire Lord's proposed pardon of Azula leaves her fate in the hands of the Fire Sages. In addition, a funeral is held for Iroh and Ozai... which attracts some old friends that Lu Ten never thought he would see again.

**.**

Thanks again for taking the time to read! Until next week,

** - Jazz  
**


	20. Rebirth

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 20:** Rebirth

* * *

Lu Ten looked down at the sleeping figure of the Avatar as she lay in the bed that he'd just recently been occupying, his amber eyes fraught with concern. The Fire Lord sighed and turned away, facing his cousin with a guilt-ridden expression.

"Did she know?" he asked, but Zuko just arched an eyebrow at him, confused. "Did she know that I was the one who killed the previous Avatar?" Lu Ten clarified, and the prince nodded.

"Then why did she save me?" the Fire Lord asked, frowning.

Zuko smiled.

"Because that's just who she is," he said with plain affection, before his expression became serious as a thought crossed his mind.

"What happened to Azula?" he asked. "Where is she?"

Lu Ten opened his mouth to reply, but Fire Sage Poru cut him off before he could say a word.

"That is a rather apt question, Prince Zuko," the old man spoke, his voice surly. "Perhaps, now that the crisis concerning the Fire Lord has been averted, we might discuss the Princess's punishment?" he finished the question with a piercing glance at Ursa, who looked like she was trying to kill the Fire Sage with a glare.

"Punishment?" Lu Ten repeated, confused, before he put the pieces together in his head and his eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no," he said softly, looking over at his aunt pleadingly. "Please tell me it wasn't her."

"Azula saved your life, if that's what you mean," Toph broke in flatly, barely resisting the urge to clock the crotchety old Fire Sage in the face with a chunk of rock as she spoke to the Fire Lord. "If we hadn't shown up when we did, boss, you'd be dead."

"A noble act, to be sure," Poru continued, "but one that does nothing to diminish the severity of her crime. Princess Azula is guilty of patricide, and judgment must be passed as to the nature of her punishment."

"Tell me," Zuko said, breaking his silence with a tone that was so tempered and intense that the heat seemed to rise in the room as he spoke. "How much did my father line your pockets with for supporting his political positions all of these years?"

"Apart from being completely irrelevant," Poru countered with a bluster that convinced no one, "I find your questioning of my integrity to be incredibly offensive, Prince."

Lu Ten faced down the Fire Sage with a steely glare, and the old man barely managed to restrain his flinch to a subdued tremble in his jaw.

"My uncle is dead," Lu Ten said forcefully, "as is my father. That makes me Fire Lord, and that makes me the person you are sworn to obey. As my first act of office, I'm issuing a full and complete pardon for my cousin's 'crime' — a pardon I fully expect the five of you to abide by."

"That is a pardon the five of us will vote on, here and now, as is our right by law," Poru replied, unyielding. "If we overturn your decision, Princess Azula will be exiled come daybreak tomorrow… as befits a patricide," he finished bitterly, and the ground beneath him shifted slightly as a sizable crack appeared in the stone. All eyes in the room turned to Toph, and the Earthbender relaxed with a sigh.

"Whatever you have to say about my friend," she said firmly, "I hope you can say it to her face."

The Fire Lord remembered exactly what Toph was capable of, and his expression softened in a heartbeat.

"Come in, Azula," he called out, and the door to his room opened slowly a few moments later. The princess entered with every ounce of her grace and presence intact, even though her eyes were still bloodshot around the edges and she looked like she'd aged two years in a night. Ursa could tell in an instant that something had changed within her daughter; the constant tension in Azula's muscles had vanished, and she moved with a lightness in her step that hadn't been there for a long, long time.

"Sorry," the Earthbender apologized, managing a small smile. "Just thought they should look you in the eye, is all." Toph tilted her head slightly to the side, curious. "Where's Hanzo?"

"Sleeping," Azula answered smoothly, before giving Toph a small nod. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," she replied, before turning back to face the Fire Sages. "Now, what was all that nonsense you were spouting about banishing her, exactly?"

The attitude of the five Sages changed at once; the looks in their eyes spoke of a great, paralyzing fear that had run through them as soon as Azula had walked into the room. The princess would know exactly who of their number spoke out against her, and Lady Ursa's daughter was not known for her capacity to forgive.

"I think you heard me the first time, child," Poru shot back at the Earthbender, the sudden shift in the atmosphere emboldening his defiance rather than weakening it. "Princess Azula," he said, turning his attention to the accused, "do you deny that you were the one to strike down General Ozai, your father, in cold blood last night?"

Azula's eyes were unblinking, their bright amber hue standing in stark contrast to the dark black hair that fell loose and framed them on either side.

"No," she said simply, "I don't."

Poru nodded, fingering his goatee absently, as if this admission already represented concrete proof of her conviction.

"And do you feel any regret over having committed the most heinous of crimes, in the eyes of both the Spirits and humankind?"

"None."

"Very well," Poru finished solemnly, drawing himself up to his full height. "We will take that as your testimony, Princess, unless you have anything further to add."

Azula said nothing, choosing instead to let her gaze sweep slowly and methodically over each of the five Fire Sages. Two of them quailed under the weight of her glare, and the princess knew they would fold like parchment. The other two had more guts, but Azula could see that one of those men had canny, hungry eyes. Eyes that were observant, and knew a shift in the winds when they saw it. He, too, would see the most advantageous course of action, and vote accordingly: this sham trial's verdict was already decided, the princess realized, and she let a dagger-like smile slip across her face as she spoke.

"Go ahead, old man. This should be amusing."

Uncertainty flashed across Poru's face for a moment, but he mastered it and cleared his throat ponderously.

"The vote to determine the validity of the Fire Lord's pardon shall now be tallied," the Fire Sage announced. "Speak your minds, my brothers."

The ambitious one was the first to step forward. _An opportunist to the bone,_ Azula thought, her smile widening as her instincts held true once again.

"We swore an oath to uphold the will of the Fire Lord, and to respect his judgment in all matters," he said decisively. "I will not be called an oathbreaker, my friends. I would rather die than live with shame dominating my every waking moment; I can think of no existence more wretched than that."

_Yes,_ the princess judged,_ this one will be a useful ally indeed._

The other uncertain Fire Sage followed his colleague's pronouncement quickly, his stride too overdone to carry any genuine confidence in it. Azula bit back a sneer.

"I agree with Yun," he said hastily. "The Princess has done us a favor, not a disservice. If General Ozai was the one who struck down Fire Lord Iroh, he is guilty of a far greater crime than the one that Fire Lord Lu Ten seeks to pardon. I say we should allow the decree to stand."

The third unsure Sage was next to come forward, reiterating a humble echo of the words that had already been spoken. The fourth Fire Sage let his silence speak for him, smart enough to realize that a declaration of loyalty to Ozai now would be tantamount to a jail sentence. Poru turned dark red in fury, stomping from the room without another word.

"The rest of you," Lu Ten said coldly to the Fire Sages, "get out. I would have words with my family. And you, Toph," he added kindly, stopping the Earthbender as she turned to leave. "You've earned your place here."

Sokka refused to get up, staying in his seat by his sister's side as she slept. The Fire Lord acknowledged him with a look before speaking again.

"Lady Ursa," he said, turning to his aunt, "I want you to be my Regent. Is there any reason why you might think to refuse the position?"

"None," Ursa answered, shaking her head. "It would be an honor to help you govern, my Lord."

Lu Ten nodded, and his new regent could already see the weight of leadership changing him. And that weight— coupled with the trauma of suddenly losing his father— had served to put an icy hardness in his amber eyes, the likes of which Ursa hadn't seen since Azulon.

"Good," the Fire Lord said. "I want you to throw all of the Fire Sages into our most remote dungeon, and abolish their order completely. Their time of influence is over."

"With all due respect," Ursa said firmly, "do you think that's wise?"

"I think it's necessary," Lu Ten replied, his tone equally unyielding. "Their little farce just now was all the proof I needed of that; of the five of them, one can be trusted and one can be cowed. The rest are supporters of your late husband's ideals, and I don't want any trace of Ozai's influence to remain in the Fire Nation."

The regent bowed her head.

"Of course. I will see to it personally."

The Fire Lord nodded again, before turning to the older of his cousins.

"The Imperial Firebenders are all dead," Lu Ten said. "I need a new guard, Zuko, and I want you to choose and lead it."

"Me?" The prince asked, surprised. "But—"

"Don't even try to pull the self-deprecating act with me," Lu Ten shot back, serious. "I know what you're capable of. I would entrust you with anything, and that includes my own safety. The other option would be to give you your father's old command as a General… but that would take you far afield, and you're about to get married."

Zuko gave a small nod, his expression resolute.

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness, my Lord," he said formally, "and I would be honored to accept your offer."

Lu Ten gave a bittersweet smile, shaking his head as he did so.

"You all really need to stop standing on ceremony around me," he told his family. "I'm going to have to play along with the aristocracy and military's song and dance for as long as I sit on the throne—if I can't be myself around you, I'll go insane before the month is out."

"Don't worry about that, boss," Toph chimed in with a grin. "I never stand on ceremony for anyone."

The Fire Lord's bittersweet smile turned genuine as he faced the Earthbender, but then a thought occurred to him and he frowned.

"The cells my father had you locked in," he said slowly, "I know they were metal, and built to withstand Firebending. How did you get out?"

"I just bent the metal," Toph said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Lu Ten's smile widened and he shook his head again, this time in disbelieving amazement.

"Of course you did," he said with a chuckle. "I want to see that with my own eyes at some point, Toph. It's not every day you get to witness a completely new Bending Art, after all."

The Earthbender nodded at once.

"No problem."

The Fire Lord turned to Azula last, his expression softening with tenderness and concern.

"How do you feel?"

"I've been better," the princess said, managing a small smile. "Thanks for the pardon, by the way."

Lu Ten laughed.

"You saved my life, Azula," he replied, "and a lot more besides. I shouldn't even have had to pardon you for that in the first place. In fact," the Fire Lord continued, "I think I owe you a great deal for your actions last night—and there happens to be a vacancy at the top of the army's commanding ranks. How would you like to be a General?"

"I'm not taking any of his scraps," the princess countered flatly, "if that's what you're asking. He can rot along with his titles, for all I care."

"And rot he will, as will his legacy," Lu Ten said. "But I'm not giving you Ozai's old seat at the table because you killed him, Azula. I'm giving it to you because I know you can handle its responsibilities better than anyone else who could possibly take your father's place."

"And I don't suppose I can refuse the appointment?"

"You could," The Fire Lord said with a shrug. "But we both know you won't. Besides," he added, a subtle gleam coming into his eyes that only the princess could see, "I'd be willing to let you pick your own subordinates, no questions asked."

Azula fought back a smirk, but only just.

"And what responsibilities would being a General carry, exactly?"

"Ozai was right about one thing," Lu Ten answered, "I'll give him that much. The rebellions scattered around the Earth Kingdom need to be suppressed, before they start doing serious damage to our colonists and allies. I would ask you to root them out and deal with them; either by diplomacy, or—if there is no other recourse—by force.

"Once Long Feng is dead, our peace with Ba Sing Se will be stable… but not all of the Earth Kingdom provinces and territories follow the lead of their King."

Azula gave a half-bow, grateful for both the show of faith and the chance to get away from the Fire Nation for a while. There were ghosts here that needed to settle, before she could truly call it home again.

"Consider it done."

Lu Ten smiled, glad that he would have his family around him to help share the burden of wearing the crown. Provided that some of the stauncher Ozai loyalists didn't try to cause any problems, it would be a smooth transition indeed.

"There is one more thing I have to bring to your attention, Lu Ten," Ursa broke in, and the Fire Lord turned to regard her.

"And that would be?"

"Commander Zhao's body was found in his office this morning, headless," the regent said plainly. "Along with the corpses of six soldiers under his command."

"I grieve for the loss," Lu Ten said, his voice completely devoid of the emotion in question. "Do we know who committed the crime, or why?"

Ursa saw her daughter give her a pointed look, but she did not return it as she replied.

"No," she said simply. "Nothing at the scene of the murder points to any suspects."

"Then I guess that leaves us with another open spot to fill," the Fire Lord replied, before looking over at Toph. "You interested?"

The young Earthbender raised a puzzled eyebrow.

"Why would I join the military?" she asked. "I don't know the first thing about leading troops."

"It would be a nominal position, nothing more," Lu Ten clarified. "Admiral Jeong Jeong would take Zhao's troops under his command. A formal position in the Fire Nation military would, however, grant you citizenship—and with it, legal protection from unwanted extradition."

"Could you say that in words that actually make sense?"

Lu Ten smiled.

"Your parents couldn't drag you home without your permission."

Toph let the words sink in for a moment, and then she beamed another grin.

"Sounds good to me!"

In the moment of silence that followed, Azula caught her mother's eye and mouthed a word of thanks. Ursa inclined her head in the smallest of nods, giving her daughter an almost-conspiratorial smile.

The sudden sound of a knock at the door disrupted the quiet atmosphere, and it opened a moment later to reveal admiral Jeong Jeong.

"My apologies for intruding," he said, "but there is someone demanding an audience with the Fire Lord. She seems rather adamant, and has already broken the arms of two guards who tried to restrain her. I thought I would come to you before doing anything serious, Sir."

"A wise choice, Admiral," Lu Ten said, fighting valiantly to hold back a smile. "Did this woman happen to have a tattoo of a red viper on her shoulder?"

Jeong Jeong seemed surprised for a moment, but mastered it quickly.

"She did. Do you know her?"

The Fire Lord made no effort to hide his smile this time, his relief at June's safe return plain on his face.

"Yes, Admiral," he said, ignoring the smug look on Toph's face, " I do. Show her here— and make sure that no one else gets their bones broken in the process."

Jeong Jeong bowed and backed out into the hallway.

"At once, Sir."

Silence settled back over the room as the admiral departed, until Azula couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

"What was that about?" she asked, and Toph answered before Lu Ten could say anything.

"He's just happy his girlfriend didn't get herself killed in Ba Sing Se," the Earthbender explained. "I tried to tell him that she'd be fine, but no one listens to me when I'm right about something."

The Fire Lord chuckled, but as he tried to speak he was cut off yet again; this time, by the sound of Katara finally waking up from her exhausted sleep.

"Ugh," the Avatar groaned, closing her eyes against the light. "I feel like crap."

Zuko was at her side immediately, checking her pulse at her throat while Sokka went to fill up an empty cup with water. Katara forced herself to sit upright, casting a quick glance around the room. She noticed that the Fire Sages had left, and that a girl she didn't recognize had come in while she'd been sleeping. A moment of concentration made the similarities between Zuko and the new girl impossible to miss, and the Avatar guessed that the newcomer was his sister, Azula.

"What'd I miss?"

"I didn't get a chance to thank you, for one," Lu Ten said, smiling at her. "Zuko told me what you did; that was some incredible healing. Without it… well, I don't want to think about that. I am in your debt, Avatar Katara."

Katara returned the smile, glad to see that her patient had remained stable and healthy. Looking over at the princess, she nodded in greeting.

"You must be Azula," she said, and Zuko's sister nodded. She saw the necklace that the Avatar was wearing, and her sharp eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

"Oh, so you pulled it off after all," Azula said a heartbeat later, reining in her shock and looking over at her brother. "I didn't think you had it in you, Zuzu. I must admit, I'm impressed."

Zuko blanched at the use of his hated nickname, but the sound of Katara failing to hold back an indelicate chortle told the unlucky prince that the damage had already been done.

"'Zuzu'?" she repeated, blue eyes bright with mirth. Zuko could only groan in dismay, while his mother looked on with a wide smile. A second knock at the door drew everyone's attention again, and Toph chuckled mischievously.

"Here we go," she said, a heartbeat before the door opened to reveal June.

The bounty hunter walked into the room with a calm efficiency that Azula recognized at once as a soldier's gait, but June's ever-present confidence belied her haggard appearance. Dark circles sat under gray eyes that looked slightly clouded, her expression tense in a way that told Lu Ten she was struggling to keep her awareness sharp.

"I'm sorry about your father," she said to the Fire Lord at last, sounding as tired as she looked. "And right now, that's the only thing keeping me from breaking your jaw. If you ever, _ever_ scare me like that again, I'm not holding back. Got it?"

Lu Ten nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry I scared you," he said, his amber eyes as apologetic as June had ever seen them. "I didn't think you got scared."

The bounty hunter managed a strained smile, shaking her head. In some ways, the new Fire Lord was still the earnest, idealistic young man she'd met under the walls of Ba Sing Se all those years ago... and June didn't think any kind of crown would change that.

It was one of the many things that she was beginning to realize she loved about him.

"Only when you pull a stupid stunt like that," she said. "I thought you were going to _die_, Lu Ten. What happened?"

"The Avatar healed me," he explained, gesturing over to Katara. June looked at the young Waterbender and nodded, both in greeting and in respectful thanks. Katara returned it, glad that she had kept one more person from a great deal of grief by saving the Fire Lord's life.

Jeong Jeong stepped into the doorway again, entering the room at a nod from Ursa and making a point of keeping a healthy distance away from June.

"The Fire Sages have requested that the funeral service for both your father and General Ozai begin at once, Sir," the admiral said, and Lu Ten frowned.

"They want to give rites to Ozai?" he asked, spitting out the general's name like a curse. "Tell me you're joking, Admiral."

"They were insistent that the late Fire Lord's brother be treated with respect, as a member of the royal family."

"That's nice," the Fire Lord said, subtle venom underscoring his dismissive tone. "I don't care."

"Lu Ten," Ursa spoke up, her tone at once authoritative and mollifying, "regardless of how you feel about Ozai—"

"Don't tell me you're about to defend him," the Fire Lord snapped lowly, his eyes smoldering. "Your husband killed his own brother, Ursa. He murdered my father, and barring a pair of minor miracles, he would have murdered me, too."

"None of that changes the fact that he was your family," the regent continued, the steel in her voice sharp enough to compel Lu Ten to hear her out, even in his anger. "You can deny him a place of honor, if you want—inter his ashes with a family of peasants; I don't care.

"But you know just as well as I do that your father would have wanted his brother to be given the proper funeral rites. Family mattered just as much to Iroh as it does to you."

The Fire Lord stood stock still for a few heartbeats, until at last he relented with a sigh that seemed to pull all the strength from his body as it left him.

"Fine," he acquiesced. "Ozai will be given the rites. But nothing more."

Ursa gave a half-bow.

"As my Lord commands."

* * *

It took the pyres two hours to burn themselves out.

The Fire Lord watched the mourners come and go; he thanked those who approached him to offer their sympathies, both genuine and sycophantic. He barely even heard the doomed Fire Sages perform the funeral service or give the final rites—his eyes could only see his father being slowly turned to ashes, consumed by the very thing over which he had once held complete and total mastery.

By the time the pyres were nothing more than embers and the Fire Sages had collected both Iroh and Ozai's remains into two separate urns, the only people left in the courtyard were Lu Ten, Azula, Zuko, Ursa, Katara, June and Toph. The Fire Lord felt an emptiness in his heart already; he'd often heard his father say that there were times he still wanted to talk to his own mother, who had died when Iroh was very young… but Lu Ten had never imagined that the longing to have that impossible conversation would feel so keen, so soon after his own father had been snatched away from him.

He felt June wrap her arm around his shoulders and they were walking; he didn't bother to resist as she led him over to a nearby bench and sat him down gently, joining him without ever removing her arm from his shoulders. They sat there in silence together for some time—Lu Ten's eyes taking in everything and nothing, June waiting for the right words to make themselves known.

A nightingale-finch alighted on the branch of a nearby tree and sang a short trill of clear, piercing notes; the call was just sharp enough to solidify the bounty hunter's thoughts, and she spoke at last.

"He knew what was coming," June said, her voice even. "When we had tea together, he pretty much said he knew Ozai was going to try and kill him. But Iroh stayed anyway. He could have gotten his brother arrested, or killed in secret, but he didn't. He stood his ground and he fought him."

"And he died for it," Lu Ten said at last, his voice more hollow than angry. "What's your point, June?"

"That your father made a choice," she finished resolutely. "That you shouldn't be blaming yourself for his death."

"I'm not."

June was caught off-guard by the frank simplicity of the answer, and for a long heartbeat she didn't know how to react.

"What?" she asked at last, and the Fire Lord sighed.

"I don't blame myself for what happened," he answered. "I just… I can't believe he's actually _gone_. I knew he wasn't going to live forever, but…"

He fell quiet again, and June briefly tightened her grip on his shoulders in a show of support.

"Everything went fine in Ba Sing Se?"

June bit back a sigh; she knew he was deflecting, but she also knew that Lu Ten had to come to grips with this in his own time, and in his own way. It wasn't something she could force out of him, no matter how close they were.

"Yeah," she answered. "Perfectly fine. No one saw me, and Long Feng went down without a fight. The Council of Five should be able to take care of the rest themselves, and put the Dai Li down for good."

"Excellent," Lu Ten said, his voice regaining some of its color. When he spoke again, his tone was considerably softer, its earlier hollowness now replaced by tenderness.

"Thank you, June," he said quietly, turning his head to look her in the eyes. "For everything. You don't have to be here right now, but you are—and I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"Hey, it's the least I can do," June said with a smile, glad to see and hear Lu Ten coming back to himself. "We're in this together, right?"

He smiled, and for a moment Lu Ten looked like none of the previous night's trauma had ever even happened.

"Yeah," he agreed, his amber eyes shining faintly in the light, "I suppose we are. And speaking of," the Fire Lord continued, suddenly seeming oddly jittery to the bounty hunter, "I know this is a bit of a strange place to ask you this, but… will you marry me?"

June had assumed that Lu Ten was probably going to pop the question to her soon, but that assumption didn't stop her breath from sticking in the back of her throat as she heard him actually give voice to the words.

"Are you sure?" she asked him, not needing to fake the uncertainty in her voice. "I don't think I'd make a very good Fire Lady."

Lu Ten gave a weak chuckle, shaking his head.

"You are the only person I would want sitting beside me," he assured her, leaning forward and placing a soft, gentle kiss on her lips. "No one would make a better Fire Lady," he finished with a whisper. It was June who initiated the next kiss, sealing the promise.

Somewhere, she thought to herself as she smiled against her fiancé's lips, Iroh was laughing himself silly at the sight of them.

It was a few moments before they broke apart, rising from the bench together and beginning to walk back towards where the rest of the mourners were finishing up paying their last respects.

"The Dragon of the North," a voice called out from behind the Fire Lord, causing Lu Ten to turn around sharply. "It has been far too long since our paths last crossed."

Even though the speaker was clothed in a concealing cloak, his voice was distinctive enough that Lu Ten recognized it at once and dropped into a formal bow. It was the gesture of respect a student was accustomed to give their teacher— and that was a dynamic that never changed, no matter how many years the master and their pupil had been separated.

"Chieftain Euikon," the Fire Lord said with a smile as he straightened up. "What are you doing here?"

The leader of the Sun Warriors lowered his hood and returned the smile, but his dark brown eyes were tinged with melancholy.

"I have come to bid farewell to your father," he answered. "And to give you a gift… something that I hope will honor both Iroh's memory, and the commitment to the true way of Firebending that the two of you shared."

Reaching inside of his cloak, Euikon produced a golden, glimmering oblong shape. It seemed to be twice the length of the Sun Warrior's hand, and about three times larger than Lu Ten remembered it being when he'd last seen it.

"_That's_ your gift?" the Fire Lord asked, his amber eyes wide in shock as the chieftain proffered the Sunstone to him. "You can't be serious."

"Ah, but I am," Euikon insisted, smiling again. "It is time for the True Masters to make themselves known in the world again. Even Ran and Shaw themselves agreed that their scion's rightful place is with a Firebender, and not with them. The damage that your grandfather began and caused _must_ be undone, Lu Ten. The Sunstone's place is with you, and your family."

The Sun Warrior chieftain walked on to where Iroh's ashes were waiting in state for transfer to their final resting place, leaving the stunned Fire Lord in his wake holding the large golden Sunstone.

"So," June said at last, "are you gonna tell me what that thing is, or will I have to guess?"

Lu Ten gave a small smile, gesturing back toward the pyres as he began to walk again.

"You'll see," he said obliquely; "in a couple of weeks, give or take."

The Fire Lady to-be opened her mouth to argue, but the Fire Lord had already approached Azula and begun talking to her. June saw that Euikon was gone, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. He certainly hadn't been just any old man, to be able to command that degree of respect from Lu Ten. And the 'Sunstone'… just what was it?

June looked over and saw that the Fire Lord had given the object in question to Azula, who was holding it like it was made of glass.

"You all right?"

The question jolted her out of her thoughts, and June faced Lu Ten with a blink.

"I'm fine," she said at once, before she reminded herself of what had passed between them just a little while ago. That, and what surprise of her own she might have for her fiancé in a few weeks' time.

Suddenly, June felt thrilled and excited and terrified all at once. As she drew Lu Ten into a strong embrace, feeling immense relief as his comforting warmth flowed gently through her, she realized that the mystery of the Sunstone could wait for a while.

She had far, _far_ more important things to worry about right now.

* * *

...

...

**A/N: **This chapter was a little shorter than usual, owing both to finals having happened this past week and to the fact that there's not that much story left to tell. We're almost done, ladies and gentlemen: believe it or not, next week's chapter is the _last one!_ Crazy, I know.

Before I give thanks to the new reviewers this past week, I have to give extra special shout-outs to **Masayume85, Em Dixon **and **lncognito**. The three of them went above and beyond the call of duty in making sure this chapter passed muster, and for that I am incredibly thankful. Y'all are just awesome.

In terms of new reviewer thank-yous, this week we have **G0d3ss0fD1sc0rd **and **CeeSpotWrite**. Thank you both very much for taking the time to chime in, and it's great having you aboard.

Time for next week's teaser! In the finale, three weeks have passed, and surprises abound as June has some big news for Lu Ten and the Sunstone makes its true nature known to Azula (who's still in the Fire Nation, not to worry). Also, a peace summit is attended by the leading members of all Four Nations, bringing some familiar faces along with it. And something else happens, too... but I'm not spoiling that here, oh no.

**.**

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you next week when this story comes to a close! It's been a wild ride, and it certainly wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without all of you being around for it.

**- Jazz**


	21. Telos

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 21: **Telos

* * *

"So… it's a sure thing, then."

The doctor smiled.

"Just as sure as when I told you three minutes ago, yes. Again, congratulations."

His patient sat there in silence, letting the news wash over her for a second time.

"I don't know how this is going to work out," she said at last. "Does that make me a terrible person?"

The doctor arched a slender, white eyebrow, perplexed.

"Why would that make you a terrible person?" he asked. "Allow me to let you in on a little secret, my Lady. If anyone ever tells you they went through what you're about to deal with and felt confident the entire time, they're lying through their teeth."

"But at least they had an idea of what to _do_," June insisted, standing up and beginning to pace around the room. "I never even knew my mother—what the hell am I supposed to know about being one?"

The doctor sighed, readjusting his glasses with a push of his forefinger that seemed more reflexive than deliberate.

"Fine, then," he said. "Let me ask you this question. Suppose, hypothetically, that your child was in the room with us right now."

"Okay…?" June allowed hesitantly as she stopped pacing, not quite sure where this was going.

"And if I were to try and harm them—"

"I'd snap your neck like a twig," she cut him off at once, her words betraying not even the slightest misgiving.

The doctor smiled, his brown eyes twinkling sagely from behind the glass.

"See?" he said warmly. "You're already getting the hang of it."

Now it was June's turn to sigh, but her expression had cleared up considerably.

"I guess I have to go tell him now, then."

"That would probably be the wise thing to do, yes."

"But what if he freaks out?" June asked, her eyes darkening again ever-so-slightly. "He only just got crowned; what if it's too soon?"

The doctor smiled again, stepping forward and putting a comfortingly paternal hand on June's shoulder.

"You're fretting over shadows, my Lady," he said reassuringly. "I've known Lu Ten since he was a newborn, and I can promise you that no news could possibly make him happier than this. He'll be overjoyed."

June managed a weary smile in kind, nodding once.

"Thanks," she said. "I needed that."

The doctor's smile widened.

"It's what I'm here for."

June left the doctor's office, walking down the narrow corridors with determined strides until the path opened back up into a wide, bustling hallway that ran from there all the way down to the throne room. She turned and kept walking, her pace never faltering.

The Fire Lady to-be could have covered up the tattoo on her shoulder, but she chose not to. The whispers that seemed to follow her as she moved were more amusing than hurtful; the palace busybodies had managed to come up with ways to say 'floozy' and 'gold-digger' that even _she'd_ never heard before… and that was saying something.

Let them call her what they liked. Very soon, she would be wearing a crown and they would just have to deal with that. Ursa had already made it known that she wouldn't tolerate any slandering of the Fire Lord's fiancée, and those who feared the regent kept their lips wisely sealed. But the few who were stupid enough to run their mouths always had the most entertaining things to say, and so June let them ramble.

The doors of the throne room loomed large as ever, and guards stood by its entrance. Imperial Firebenders, going by their armor— which meant that whatever meeting was going on, it was important.

Still not as important as this, though.

"My Lady…"

"Open this door."

"But…"

"Do it!" June snapped, her temper flaring. It took most all of her nerve to work up to announcing the news; she couldn't lose her cool now just because some guards thought politics took priority. "If Zuko gets pissy with you, I'll talk to him. Right now, I have something very, very important to tell the Fire Lord."

The leader of the guards hesitated, but only for a moment. Stepping aside, he shot a controlled blast of fire at the door to speed its opening.

"As you wish, my Lady."

June nodded to the guard as she walked through the doors, noticing that all eyes in the room had turned to her. Azula and Zuko sat across from each other at the long Council table, and Hanzo had his place by the side of the princess. The two of them were inseparable — the Dragon and her Hound, she'd heard the whispers call them. Toph and Katara were nowhere to be seen; they were probably out training.

Ursa sat in the regent's place to the side of the throne, and the Fire Lord sat on the throne itself, his crown gleaming in the light of the flames that rose high behind him.

"Lu Ten," June said firmly, making sure her voice was as steeled as it could be. He smiled.

"Yes, dear?" he asked, sounding amused. Part of her really wanted to smack him, but he was too far away for her whip to reach.

"We need to talk," June continued, her eyes narrowing. "In private. Now."

The Fire Lord's smile vanished, but his fiancée could see that the amusement was still lurking in his eyes. What was that about?

"All of you," Lu Ten said commandingly, "out."

The word was as good as law, and the assembled Council members bowed and left without another word. Ursa rose and gave a short bow of farewell to the Fire Lord, before walking out of the door behind her children.

"So," Lu Ten said when the two of them were alone, rising to his feet and walking toward June. With each step he took, a smile slowly grew wider and wider on his face. "Is it a girl, or a boy? I heard they can check that now, somehow. Pretty crazy, huh?"

"I didn't as…" June began to reply, before her fiancé's words sunk in and her voice caught in her throat. Her gray eyes went wide with surprise, and by the time she found her voice again Lu Ten was standing within arm's reach, grinning like an idiot.

"Oh, you asshole," she said lowly, feeling indignation threatening to boil over as she realized she'd been played. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"This whole time."

"Pretty much."

June frowned, trying to stay angry in the face of Lu Ten's elation and failing horribly.

"How?"

The Fire Lord laughed out loud.

"Are you serious?" he asked, his amber eyes now positively gleaming. "You haven't had a drop to drink for the past three weeks, June. Do you think I didn't notice? That," he added with a small smile, "and every time you had to ask for tea instead, you gave me the most obvious death-glare I've ever seen. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out."

June's frown deepened.

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

Lu Ten just shrugged.

"I figured you would tell me when you were ready," he answered, "once you knew for sure. I didn't want to rush you."

June was silent for a heartbeat, but when she opened her mouth to speak again Lu Ten cut her off, pulling her into a gentle embrace.

"It'll be fine," he whispered reassuringly. "It'll be more than fine; it'll be wonderful. I love you so much."

June relaxed into him with a sigh, but couldn't resist sending just one barb his way.

"I'm giving up booze for nine months, thanks to you. That's one hell of a sacrifice."

Lu Ten chuckled against her.

"Is that June-speak for 'I love you, too'?"

_So much for the guilt-trip_, she thought as she smiled. _For now, at least._

"Yeah," she admitted, "I guess it is."

* * *

As they walked down the passage that led out the side of the throne room, Azula looked curiously over at her mother—who seemed to be a moment away from bursting out into song.

"What's got you so pleased?" the princess asked, and the regent smiled down at her daughter.

"The piece of news that June had for your cousin, of course," Ursa answered brightly. "The two of them are going to be parents in a few months."

"She's pregnant?" Zuko asked, shocked, and his mother nodded happily.

"Indeed she is," Ursa said, still smiling. "Lu Ten and I have suspected it for some time… but I guess June wanted to know for certain before she said anything. A wise choice, of course."

"That's great news!" Zuko said with a laugh, prompting a sidelong glance from his sister.

"Don't tell me you're getting ideas, Zuzu."

"O—of course not! No!" the prince stammered, fighting the red down from his cheeks. "Katara and I aren't even married yet." He frowned. "And stop calling me that!"

Azula just smiled at her brother, before turning down a side corridor. Hanzo followed behind her, and the two of them made their way back to their room in companionable silence.

"Hopefully, that'll finally get all the aristocrats to shut up about the Fire Lord's choice of bride," Hanzo said at last as they walked into the room and closed the door behind them. "I hate listening to them blabber on about it."

Azula shook her head, sighing as she took the symbol of her office out of her hair and let it fall loose.

"They'll never stop fuming over a slight like that," the princess replied, placing her general's headpiece on the table by the bed. "They all had their eyes set on a seat next to the throne, and not one of them got it. Nothing unites a crowd full of bitter old men like shared misery."

Hanzo was quiet for a heartbeat, and when he spoke again his voice was hesitant.

"Uh… Azula?"

"Yes?" the princess asked as she turned to face him. "What is it?"

"Is the Sunstone supposed to be… hatching?"

"Wha—" Azula began to say, before her eyes caught sight of the cracks in the golden object on the mantle and the word died. "What's happening?"

"I'm not sure," Hanzo answered as the Sunstone began to make tiny tremulous movements and the cracks in its surface widened. "But in any case, I don't think it should be up there."

Azula hurried over and lifted the Sunstone up off of its perch, carrying it gingerly as she moved over to sit down on the bed. It had always felt oddly warm to her touch, but now it felt like it was almost too hot to hold. Hanzo sat beside her, eyeing the Sunstone warily as the crack at the top finally split open, and the golden fragments fell away.

A moment later, a scaly, dark-blue, distinctly reptilian head poked out of the cavity. It blinked its large, golden eyes curiously at Azula, and the princess could only stare, dumbfounded.

"What."

"I think it's a dragon, Azula."

"I can see that, thank you. Aren't they all supposed to be dead?"

By now, the newborn dragon had worked its way out of its shell completely. It was lying coiled in Azula's lap, looking up at her expectantly.

"Apparently not."

The princess reached out a tentative hand, letting it come gently to rest on top of the dragon's head. It responded to the touch at once, closing its eyes and moving against her hand. All the while, it let out a low, contented sound that oddly resembled a purr. Hanzo smiled.

"I think he likes you."

Azula didn't say anything in response. Or, more accurately, she couldn't. The dragon's warmth and power were palpable; she could feel the strength of the fire that coursed within the newborn, just underneath her fingers. It was truly astonishing, and the princess knew then why the dragons had always been referred to as the 'Firebending Masters'.

"I wondered why Lu Ten was so insistent that I keep the Sunstone safe," Azula said at last, letting her fingers brush idly along the ridges of the dragon's head as it continued to purr. "He must have known what was inside."

Hanzo nodded.

"And that explains why he wanted you to wait a few weeks before we left for the Earth Kingdom," he said. "It wasn't just the wedding he wanted you here for."

The dragon nestled further into Azula's lap, and Hanzo smiled again.

"I guess that makes you the mother, then," her boyfriend said affectionately, his dark green eyes teasing. "Congratulations."

Azula raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if the writings on dragons from Sozin's generation and earlier are still accurate," Hanzo explained as he rose, "then dragons can hear and recognize sounds from as early as two weeks before they hatch. And the voices it hears first are the voices it associates…"

"… with its parents," Azula finished flatly, looking down at the newborn dragon sleeping in her lap. "It thinks we're its _parents_?"

"I'm afraid so, Azula," her boyfriend replied, leaning down and placing a kiss on her forehead. "But hey, what's the worst that c—"

"Stop talking."

Hanzo shut up, but an infuriatingly smug smile still lingered on his lips. So the princess decided to look elsewhere before she felt compelled to smack him, which would probably wake up the dragon. Her eyes wandered downwards, and when they came to rest on the dragon in question Azula saw that it had woken up anyway. It was looking at her with its intelligent, curious golden eyes, and the princess found herself fighting against a nagging feeling in her stomach that was steadily growing stronger.

When the dragon opened its mouth and let out a small, happy sound that was somewhere between a growl and a meow, Azula just gave up.

It was adorable, and she was keeping it.

* * *

"Not bad; not bad," Toph said with a hint of approval in her voice. "You definitely don't back down from a fight, and that's important. But we're gonna have to do a lot more work on your form before we can start with the difficult stuff. You still move too much like a Waterbender."

Katara smiled as she took a moment to catch her breath, wiping her matted, slightly dirt-stained hair out of her eyes. It had taken her almost three straight weeks of training to earn that compliment, and it felt better than any words of praise her old teachers had said about her Waterbending.

Sweat stung at her eyes as it moved down her face in small beads, and the Avatar bent it off of her with a single flick of her wrist. The ground all around them had been completely churned up and turned over, so Toph and Katara moved over several yards into an undisturbed patch of un-tilled land. The palace gardeners and farmhands had been more than happy to let the master Earthbender and her student do all of their heavy lifting for them—in return, the two girls had eaten like queens when they'd taken snack breaks.

"So," Toph spoke up as the pair approached the middle of their next field, her voice carrying that softly teasing edge that Katara knew so well, "is your boyfriend jealous of me yet?"

"What?" the Avatar asked, confused. "Why would he be jealous of you?"

"You really have to ask me that?" the Earthbender replied. "You've spent almost all your time away from him since we got here."

"That's not true," Katara shot back flatly. "I've been practicing my Firebending—"

"— Which Admiral Frowny-Face has been doing half of, lately," Toph cut her off, unwilling to budge. "You should really think about darkening his door sometime, Katara. The guy could use some attention."

Katara was quiet as she considered her teacher's words, and a mischievous smirk spread slowly over the Earthbender's face in the meantime.

"Speaking of which," she said, "have you two done it yet?"

The Avatar glared at Toph and frowned, not liking the look in her sightless eyes.

"Done what?" she asked pointedly. Her teacher sighed, exasperated.

"I actually need to spell this out for you?" Toph said. "Have you made your engagement _official_ yet?" she asked, putting just enough emphasis on the penultimate word to make Katara's heart-rate go through the roof. Whatever red looked like, Toph was sure it was all over the Avatar's face right now.

"O—of course not! No!" the Avatar stammered at last. "We're not ready for that yet."

"Whatever you say," Toph replied through a chuckle, moving into the Horse Stance and waiting until Katara had done the same before continuing. "All I know is, that guy is a saint… and you are one very lucky woman."

Katara opened her mouth to speak, but the Earthbender across from her had already sent a rock lancing through the air toward her head. The next sparring round had begun, and talking would have to wait. A hasty earthen wall stopped the rock in its tracks, but the Avatar could hear Toph let out a disappointed _tsk_, muffled as it was by the barrier standing between them.

She had just dropped the wall when a thin column of rock shot out of the ground to her left and punched her in the side, knocking the wind out of Katara and forcing her to stumble as she caught her breath.

"You keep blocking off your line of sight like that," she could vaguely hear her teacher say, "and you're gonna get smashed to pieces. Seeing what the other guy's doing matters just as much as knowing what your own next move is."

Toph sent another rock at her student with an almost lazy flick of her wrist, and was pleased to feel Katara launch a shard of earth to intercept it in mid-flight.

"There we go," she said with a smile. "Now, let's see how well you can keep up."

The space between them was soon full of projectiles, and the two combatants were just as preoccupied with dodging the shards of debris that fractured off in their directions as they were with continuing their offensives. Katara could see Toph beginning to give ground, and smiled wide as she prepared herself to push just that little bit further—

When a wall of fire sprang up out of the ground a heartbeat later, bringing the spar to an abrupt end. Taking a reflexive jump backwards to get away from the onrush of heat, the Avatar shifted her stance and extinguished the flame curtain with a sharp, powerful downward movement of her arms. Without even turning around, she called out to the person who had interrupted the mock duel.

"I had her, Zuko!"

"I know you did," the prince replied as he closed the distance between them, picking his way around the uneven ground. Sokka was by his side, and Katara's brother was wearing a sword at his waist. "But this can't wait," Zuko continued. "We're leaving in a few hours. Toph is coming, too, on the Fire Lord's orders."

"Where're we going?" the Earthbender broke in, and Zuko turned to face her.

"We still need to sign a blanket peace treaty with the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom," the prince explained. "They requested it be done on neutral ground— Hanzo suggested Kyoshi Island during a meeting a few days ago, so that's where we're headed."

"Who all's going to be there for the signing?" the Avatar asked, and Zuko shrugged.

"Apart from your father, the Northern Water Tribe chief and the Earth King, I'm not sure. It depends on how many of the city-states in the Earth Kingdom feel like sending their own representatives, I guess."

Katara knew that, as the Avatar, her role would be to moderate and facilitate the signing of the treaty. She couldn't refuse, but she still didn't like the idea of taking another trip right when this place was starting to feel kind of like home.

"It'll only be for a little while," Zuko spoke comfortingly into her thoughts. "The treaty shouldn't take that long to get finalized, and we'll be back here before you know it."

As Katara looked at her fiancé, a single thought ran through the forefront of her mind.

_How did he get so good at reading me?_

Toph cleared her throat indelicately, pulling the Avatar away from her question. She looked over at her teacher, and the Earthbender rolled her eyes before gesturing with her head over at Zuko. Katara received the message with a smile, and wasted no more time as she moved forward and drew her fiancé into an embrace, kissing him deeply.

Sokka made a face like he'd just knocked back a shot of lemon juice.

"This is not okay," he protested in vain. "I'm standing right here, you know."

"Not for long, Notches," Toph countered with a smile, grabbing Sokka's arm and hauling him along behind her as she walked away.

Zuko and Katara broke apart a moment later, leaving the prince trying to catch his breath and keep his heart rate steady as the Avatar looked on with a decidedly satisfied smile.

"What was that for?" Zuko asked at last, and his fiancée's smile widened before she leaned forward again and kissed him on the cheek.

"Do I need a reason?" she whispered into his ear, her tone sending a shiver trickling down the prince's spine. He grinned.

"Not at all."

* * *

Azula was pleased to see various shades of shock and awe adorning the faces of the people she and Hanzo walked past, their eyes widening as they caught sight of the newly-hatched dragon that had draped himself around her shoulders like an elaborate, scaly scarf. His head rested upon the princess's shoulder and he looked around inquisitively, taking in the open space and grandeur of the palace. She stroked the crown of his head and the dragon murmured appreciatively, letting his golden eyes close slowly in contentment.

"We need to think of a name for him," Hanzo said, smiling to himself as a pair of palace busybodies gawked openly. "Just calling the little guy 'Dragon' all the time would get awkward."

"Good point," Azula agreed, pausing for thought. "What about 'Kaji'?" she said after a few moments, and her boyfriend raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?"

"Why not?" the princess shot back, frowning lightly. "It fits perfectly, and it's snappy."

"And obvious."

"My name is 'obvious'; do you have a problem with that, too?"

Hanzo frowned in kind, but his eyes stayed teasing.

"Patronymics don't count."

"Yes, they absolutely do."

"Okay, fine," he relented at last. "He can be Kaji. But if he doesn't like it, I'm not taking the blame."

Azula turned to face their dragon, stroking it once under the chin to wake it up.

"What do you think about 'Kaji' for a name?" she asked, and the dragon made a neutral sound accompanied by a movement of his head that almost looked like a shrug. Azula looked back over at Hanzo, triumph in her eyes.

"Looks like I win," she said, and the prince smiled.

"I guess you do," he answered, before leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the lips. Azula frowned again, but there was no anger in it.

"You know I hate it when you do that."

"No, you don't."

The princess furrowed her eyebrows, and was about to speak again when a new voice interrupted them.

"Oh, so I see it hatched! That's great news."

"My Lord cousin," Azula said with a bow, shifting seamlessly into the formality. As she rose, her expression became searching. "You always knew what was inside the Sunstone, didn't you?"

Lu Ten smiled and nodded, while June and Ursa looked at the dragon in quiet wonder.

"I did," the Fire Lord said. "Figured you could use a companion, once you left for the Earth Kingdom. It have a name yet?"

"Kaji," Hanzo volunteered, and Lu Ten gave a short chuckle.

"Cute," he said, before the five of them continued walking to the wing of the palace that housed the royal port. As they went, Azula gave her boyfriend another look of victory; Hanzo just reached over and petted Kaji along his jawbone, drawing a low purr from the dragon.

"When you're right, you're right."

The princess smiled.

"I'm always right."

Hanzo shook his head.

"I'm not letting you turn this into a competition, Azula."

The two of them continued to walk in silence, but there were smiles on both of their faces.

"My Lord," Ursa broached politely as the three of them walked ahead of Azula and Hanzo down the hallways of the palace, "may I ask you something?"

"Of course you can," Lu Ten replied, mild admonishment in his voice that she'd even asked the question. "I didn't make you my regent so you could stand there and look beautiful all day. Speak your mind, Ursa."

"Very well," she said with a short nod. "Have you reconsidered your punishment of the Fire Sages?"

There was a hitch in the Fire Lord's step, but he mastered it in a heartbeat.

"Why would I reconsider it?" he asked, keeping his tone level. "They earned their places there, and the fate that awaits them once we return from Kyoshi Island."

"Be that as it may," the regent pressed on, undaunted, "you can't let your desire for a vendetta cloud your judgment. You aren't just the Crown Prince any more, Lu Ten. Being Fire Lord is a much greater responsibility than that."

"If I set them free," Lu Ten said, "they will see me as weak and indecisive. I have to send a very clear message, and that message has a cost."

"You're already sending a message to the aristocracy by marrying someone outside of their little circle," Ursa countered. "I approve of it, obviously, and those rich old windbags won't have a choice once June's pregnancy goes public—but you can't risk compounding their dissatisfaction by completely tearing down one of our nation's oldest institutions."

"The institution of the Fire Sages has been nothing more than a political arm since Sozin took the throne," Lu Ten persisted, his amber eyes narrowing as he glanced over at his regent. "Their sacrosanct days are long behind them."

"Think of it as a peace offering, then," Ursa said, putting the slightest hint of a plea into her words. "Your transition into power is going to be your reign's most vulnerable point. Don't give the people who clothe and feed your army any more of a reason to be angry with you."

"She has a point," June spoke up, breaking her silence at last. "An army at war is one thing, but guys who only know how to kill stuff get restless when there's no stuff around to kill. Someone has to keep them under control, Lu Ten. Not to mention that you'll need all the help you can get if Ozai's old troops decide they don't feel like serving under Azula. No offense," the Fire Lady to-be called back over her shoulder.

"None taken," Azula answered, and June turned her attention back to her fiancé. The Fire Lord was tensely quiet for a moment, but then he relented with a sigh.

"You're right," he said at last, "both of you. It's just… I want to punish them. I can't believe they called a vote to overturn my pardon. If they're not loyal to the Fire Lord, how can they be trusted?"

"They don't have to be trusted," Ursa assured him, "only controlled. Leave that to me. Ozai is dead, as are the Imperial Firebenders who betrayed your father. Let your vengeance rest with them, or it will not stop. Iroh would not want his son mentioned in the same breath as his father, or his grandfather. I know that for a fact."

Lu Ten nodded, sighing again.

"Of course," the Fire Lord agreed, before he frowned. "That means they would preside over our wedding, doesn't it?"

Ursa nodded.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"I don't care," June said flatly. "I'm not getting married to 'em."

Lu Ten laughed, and his eyes brightened up again.

"Good point," he said with a smile. They were at the port now, and the ship that would bear them to Kyoshi Island loomed large in front of them. It would take them a whole day's time to make the journey in a ship like that— but as Zuko, Toph, Katara and Sokka saw them and came hurrying over, the Fire Lord realized he didn't mind.

There were no other people he'd rather be with.

* * *

The sun had dipped gently down below the horizon, and the only sounds to be heard on the open air were the occasional splash and _caw_ of a sea-raven as it breached the water to snatch up a fish and carry it off for dinner. The stars were starting to come out into the sky, and the night was peaceful.

"Hanzo?" Azula whispered, prodding his bare shoulder with one slender, impatient finger. "Are you awake?"

"I am now," came the slightly muffled reply, followed by a shift in weight on the bed as he rolled over that caused Kaji to wake up with a mildly indignant squeak. "What's wrong?"

Azula sighed.

"I can't sleep."

Hanzo looked into her eyes and saw a myriad of emotions playing just below their surfaces. He hated it when she played hard-to-get like this; it meant something was seriously bothering her.

"And?" he prompted, forcing down his own anxiety as Kaji moved and coiled himself under Azula's outstretched arm, nuzzling it in a gesture of support. "What else is wrong?"

"I can't stop thinking about this mission my cousin expects us to carry out in the Earth Kingdom," the princess admitted at last. "It wouldn't be a problem if I had command of a different group of soldiers, but these men lived and died for Ozai. And I was the one who killed him!"

The sudden rise in her voice made Kaji whimper in fear and sympathy, so Azula busied herself with comforting the dragon while Hanzo weighed the words of his reply.

"It was an odd choice for Lu Ten to give you Ozai's old troops," he agreed. "Honestly, though, we would face resentment anywhere. No one likes taking orders from someone younger than they are, regardless of how accomplished they might be. It's a pride thing."

"But we'll be neck-deep in hostile territory," the princess insisted. "The last thing I should be doing while we're fighting guerillas is wondering if my own soldiers are going to stab me in the back."

"And if any of them try, I'll cut their heads off."

Azula managed a drawn smile.

"We'd have no army by the end of the first week if you did that," she said, and Hanzo shrugged.

"Anyone who would try to murder their own commanding officer in a time of active duty isn't someone I want next to me on the battlefield."

The princess put her arm around her boyfriend's back and pulled him closer, heedless of the feeling of charred flesh beneath her hand. Hanzo didn't flinch at all this time, and Azula smiled as she kissed him. He had been self-conscious about it at first, but Hanzo was finally beginning to leave the stigma of his brand behind him.

"_Katara…"_

The voice was muted by the wall that separated their room from Zuko and Katara's, but the word and the tone it was spoken in still managed to shatter the moment completely. Azula and Hanzo broke apart like they'd been stung, and waited with raised eyebrows to make sure they weren't going crazy.

"_Zuko…"_

The second name came a few moments later, and once again the tone of it left no room for doubt about what was going on.

"I can't believe this," Azula groaned. "These walls are made of steel, Hanzo. _Steel!_ What kind of—" a muted, unintelligible noise cut her off, and the princess sighed.

"There goes any hope of me getting back to sleep," Hanzo groused, before a wicked gleam came into his eyes. "Of course," he added, "we could always give them a little competition, if you wanted to."

"Not now," Azula hissed back, punching him in the shoulder. "There's a child present!" she finished, pointing down at Kaji. The dragon had moved back down to the foot of the bed to avoid being caught in between Azula and Hanzo as they'd kissed, and was looking up at them with those wide, slightly puzzled golden eyes.

"Thanks a lot, little guy," Hanzo sighed, rolling over and getting out of bed. "You're lucky you're so cute."

Kaji made a curious noise at the back of his throat, and Azula just shook her head.

"Don't pay any attention to him," the princess said. "He's ridiculous."

The dragon closed his eyes and went back to sleep, until another muffled noise from next door caused Kaji to lift his head up and stare at the wall in annoyance.

"Unbelievable," Hanzo said with a shake of his head, before looking over at his girlfriend as he shrugged on a light shirt. "Come on," he continued. "If we're going to be awake anyway, I have something I want to show you."

Curious now, Azula got up and put a robe on over her pajamas, before holding out one of her arms. Kaji climbed up it at once, settling into his favorite position of being wrapped around her shoulders. Hanzo walked out into the hallway and the princess followed him, holding a small plume of blue fire in her hand to light the way. Catching on, Kaji reared his head back and let out a small, controlled stream of blue flame from his mouth. Azula was surprised for a moment, thinking that her dragon had just mimicked her— before she saw that the shade of blue was lighter than her own.

"How…?"

The question drew Hanzo's attention backwards, and he smiled as he saw the scene unfolding before him.

"A dragon's fire is different than a human's," he said. "According to the Fire Sages' texts on dragons, the intensity and color of their fire is a pure expression of a dragon's _chi_, and changes with its mood.

"A fully-grown, mature dragon is said to be able to produce every known color of flame at once… only a few people have seen it and survived, but those who have call it the most beautiful sight in the entire world."

"I'm so glad I got you out of that damn library," Azula said dryly, shaking her head. "If I hadn't come along, you would have turned into one of those scrolls by now."

Hanzo laughed.

"Probably," he agreed, before coming to a stop in front of a closed door. "Okay, here we are." The prince dropped to one knee and put his hands on the metal floor. "Could you bring the light a bit closer, Azula?"

The princess did so, and a moment later Hanzo's fingers sunk ever so slightly into the metal.

"Ah; there it is," he said, satisfied. "I found this while I was walking around earlier." The small section of metal lifted up and out, revealing itself as the lid to a small hidden compartment. "Usually, the clatter on a ship like this is so loud that no one notices the sound of steel that's slightly hollow when they step on it. Fortunately for me," Hanzo finished, his voice turning bitter as he reached in and pulled out a small scroll, "That bastard Tariyama made sure I could walk from one side of a room to another without being heard. You notice more in the silence."

Azula tried to speak, but Hanzo busied himself with unrolling the scroll and the unspoken message in his body language was clear: the last thing he wanted to talk about was his memory of the Iron Devil's teachings.

"This," he said at last, holding the scroll up to the firelight, "is my decree of legitimization. You and your mother are the only living people apart from me who've seen it, as of tonight.

"I want you to burn it."

The words caught Azula off-guard, and she looked at her boyfriend in surprise as she knelt to look him in the eyes.

"Are you serious?" she asked. "This is the only thing that proves you're a Prince. Without it, you could never take the throne of Ba Sing Se!"

Hanzo gave her a sad smile, rolling the scroll back up and tossing it at Azula's knees like a piece of common garbage.

"No one ever asked me if I wanted the throne," he said quietly, sounding as vulnerable as he had back when he'd told Azula the story of his childhood. "It was always about what _they_ wanted. Do you think your mother rescued me from Ba Sing Se because she was feeling maternal?"

Hanzo gave a bitter laugh, and his eyes grew dark with anger in the firelight. "She did it because she wanted me to take Kuei's place, once Long Feng put a knife in his heart. She wanted a pawn she could put on the throne, a puppet whose strings she could pull when it suited her. She was using me, just like everyone else.

"Everyone except for you," Hanzo finished, the anger leaving his eyes as the bitterness in his voice was replaced by quiet tenderness. "Once you saw me for who I was, you looked at me like I was a real person. No one else has ever done that for me; not like you. This is my choice, Azula. I don't want to rule the Earth Kingdom—I just want to follow you."

After taking a few moments to calm her heartbeat back down, Azula picked up the scroll and ignited a flame in her free hand.

"You're sure about this?"

Hanzo nodded.

"Absolutely."

Azula touched the fire to the piece of parchment, letting it fall to the floor as the flame greedily consumed it. After it had been reduced to ashes, she offered her hand to Hanzo and they rose together to their feet.

"You won't be following me," the princess said, her hand still entwined with his. "You'll be at my side, as befits a Prince."

Hanzo smiled wide, bowing his head.

"As you wish," he replied, and Kaji let out another small jet of light blue flame. The prince laughed, and Azula looked at him in confusion.

"What does that color mean?"

Hanzo pulled her to him, kissing her once on the forehead before moving his head down to whisper in her ear.

"Happiness."

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and cloudless, and the kitchen staff even went as far as to include some freshly-caught fish in the spread they laid out for breakfast. In short, it was a fantastic start to the day…

For some of the people at the table, at least.

"So," Azula said curtly, lifting up a piece of mackerel with her chopsticks and feeding it to Kaji, who wolfed it down happily, "I'm glad to see at least some of you slept well last night."

The princess stared daggers at her brother and his fiancée, but said nothing more. The Avatar at least had the good sense to look puzzled, while Zuko was simply wearing a wide, silly grin as he ate through an entire plateful of food.

"What do you mean, Azula?" Katara asked, and Hanzo gave her a smile that was far too polite for the look in his eyes.

"What was that old saying," he answered, "about not asking questions you don't want answered?"

June's mouth curved into a mischievous smile, which only got wider as Katara turned about three different shades of red in quick succession.

"Come to think of it," the Fire Lady to-be said, her gray eyes fairly twinkling with laughter, "you do look different this morning, Katara. Got a kind of… glow about you."

The Avatar looked like she wanted to sink into the floor, but Zuko wrapped his arm around her shoulders and adopted a more restrained version of his earlier grin.

"There's a reason for that," he told June flatly, before kissing Katara on the cheek.

"There is a time," Sokka said from his place next to Hanzo, "and there is a place. This is neither the time, nor the place. This will never, ever be the place, and frankly I don't know if there will be a 'time'. Just make sure I'm not on the continent."

"Sounds like you're just jealous, Notches," Toph chimed in, tone teasing as she ribbed Sokka with a playful elbow. "Don't worry; I'm sure there's a wonderful lady out there somewhere, just waiting for you to sweep her off of her feet— before dropping her flat on her ass a moment later."

"Not helping, Toph."

Ursa, meanwhile, looked like she was about to burst at the seams with delight.

"Well, I think it's wonderful," she said with a wide smile. "To be honest, there were times when I didn't know if Zuko would ever wind up with someone—"

"Thanks, mom."

"—so I'm just glad that he finally found a true partner and equal. Does my old heart good to see it."

"Easy for you to say," Azula said dourly, giving a generous bite of salmon to the dragon wrapped around her shoulders. "You weren't trying to sleep in the room next door." A brief rendition of one of their muffled cries of passion followed, and the princess went back to skewering her fish on chopsticks with a vengeance.

Katara blushed, Zuko paled and Lu Ten burst out laughing.

"Really?" the Fire Lord asked, and Hanzo nodded. "Wow. These walls are supposed to be soundproof, you two. I'm pretty sure that sets some kind of reco—"

"Just stop," Zuko said with what dignity he could muster. "Please."

"Did you say 'Please' last night, Katara?" Hanzo volunteered. "We couldn't quite make out anything coherent after three o'clock in the morning."

Before the Avatar could say anything in her defense, a messenger poked his head into the room. Ursa, beet-red from holding in laughter of her own, was grateful for the distraction and spoke.

"Yes? What is it?"

The messenger took in the scene for a moment in puzzlement, not sure how to react. In the end, he gave up trying to adapt and just delivered his message.

"We have arrived, My Lady. The dignitaries from the Earth Kingdom and both Water Tribes are already on the island," he told Ursa with a bow. "They merely await your presence, and the treaty conference can begin."

The regent nodded, shifting seamlessly back into her political persona.

"Thank you," she said. "Please inform them that we will be out presently."

The assembled extended royal family finished up their breakfast, silence hanging over the table that was equal parts strained and sheepish. A few agonizingly long minutes later, they left the dining room in a group and headed out of the flagship. The sun was warm and welcoming as they set foot at last on the tranquil shore of Kyoshi Island.

The first sight that greeted the visitors was a formidable-looking phalanx of armed young women, all wearing dark green kimonos overlaid with plated armor. Their faces were covered in distinctive white face-paint, with red and black accents around the eyes.

"The Kyoshi Warriors bid you welcome to Kyoshi Island, Fire Lord Lu Ten," the foremost of the warriors spoke up, bowing low. "Please, follow me. Yourself, the Lady June, The Avatar, the Lady Ursa and General Azula have been given places at the table. I'm afraid the rest of your group will have to wait elsewhere."

"Of course," Lu Ten answered politely. He walked toward the large building visible at the center of the village, the chosen members of his group following behind him. At the same time, Zuko, Sokka, Toph and Hanzo split off and followed some other Kyoshi warriors to a secluded resting area.

"So," Katara broached as evenly as she could, trying to taker her mind off of Zuko's sudden absence and the emptiness it left at her side. "Who else is going to be negotiating the treaty?"

"From the Earth Kingdom," the Kyoshi warrior began, "Earth King Kuei and his new Grand Secretariat, General How; along with King Bumi of Omashu. From the Water Tribes, Chief Arnook and his advisor Master Pakku represent the North. Chief Hakoda and his wife, the Lady Kya, stand for the South."

Katara smiled in surprise as she heard her parents would be attending. But when she turned to ask Sokka if he'd known anything about it, the Avatar remembered that her brother, too, was somewhere else. Her heart sank.

"Don't worry," Ursa said encouragingly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "you'll do just fine. Somehow, I don't think a bunch of politicians will be harder to handle than the Face Stealer."

The Avatar managed a thin smile, feeling some of the tension ease out of her stomach.

"Well, when you put it like that…"

The group reached the entrance to the main village hall a few minutes later, and Azula stepped to the side as the rest of her family and allies entered into the large building. She knew how many eyes would be on her regardless; the last thing she wanted to do was make it worse by appearing presumptuous and walking in right behind the regent. June gave her a concerned glance as she passed through the threshold, but Azula just nodded.

"Pardon me for asking, General," the Kyoshi warrior that had guided them there spoke up, her eyes wide, "but where in the Four Nations did you find a dragon?"

The princess shrugged, a movement that caused Kaji to stir and readjust himself.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she answered, reaching up idly and scratching underneath her dragon's chin. "I just got the egg; I have no idea where it came from." Azula's eyes narrowed slightly as she regarded the young woman, her gaze coming to rest on the sword she carried at her waist. The blade was long and slightly curved, similar to Hanzo's sword of choice.

"I've heard many things about the Kyoshi Warriors," the princess continued, bringing her eyes back up to the warrior's face. "Someone whose opinion I trust holds your band in very high esteem. I assume you're their leader?"

"I am, General," the warrior replied with a nod. "My name is Suki."

"Azula," Ursa's voice called out from within the meeting hall's central chamber, "is everything all right?"

"I'm fine," Azula replied curtly. "I'll be there momentarily." Turning her attention back to Suki, she nodded in respectful farewell.

"I feel fortunate to have met you," she said. "Something tells me our paths will cross again before too long, Suki. Until then, goodbye."

The princess turned and walked into the chamber where the treaty negotiations had already begun, quickly espying her seat next to her mother and settling into it. There was no lack of surprise at the sight of Kaji, who looked curiously around the room at all of the new faces.

"How remarkable," Pakku's dry, cutting tone spoke up as the dragon's golden eyes passed over him. "First the Avatar, and now a creature this world hasn't seen since you killed the last of them… bound to a patricidal young girl, no less. Your arsenal continues to expand, Fire Lord. Should I be concerned?"

"Hold your tongue," Chief Arnook hissed, while Kya took the opportunity to stare down the master Waterbender with seething disgust. "This is no place for baseless insults!"

"No, please," Lu Ten replied, his voice frigidly civil. "Let your advisor speak his mind, Arnook. Clearly, he feels strongly about Azula having a seat at this table. I would hear him out."

Pakku smiled, staring down the Fire Lord unflinchingly as Bumi leaned over and whispered something to Katara. She nodded, her eyes shifting over to Azula.

"I simply can't see the reasoning behind replacing Ozai with someone who so clearly has his blood flowing in their veins," the Waterbender replied. "What exactly did you hope to accomplish with that?"

Lu Ten gave a humorless chuckle, his amber eyes hardening.

"Ozai's blood," he said coldly, "came from Azulon. As did my father's blood, and therefore mine as well. To call my cousin's worth into question based solely on her lineage is an insult to my entire house, Master Pakku.

"But I take it, then," the Fire Lord continued, cruel humor bleeding into his eyes, "that you would prefer it if my uncle were alive; that my father, myself and the rest of my family were all corpses? Would you rather Azula had not intervened, and that Ozai was now wearing my crown?

"If that were the case, I can promise you this conference wouldn't be taking place," the Fire Lord finished. "Ozai would be marshaling his army, and waiting for the Comet to arrive this summer. And once it came, I can guarantee you that he would take the utmost pleasure in burning the Northern Water Tribe to the ground, clapping you in chains and forcing you to watch as he murdered your families. And I would remind you, Master Pakku," Lu Ten added acidly,

"That I speak from experience."

The force of the Fire Lord's words brought a hammer of silence down upon the table, and it took a few long moments before anyone so much as shifted in their seats. Azula rose abruptly to her feet, drawing a surprised squeak out of Kaji as she did so. She was halfway to the door before Bumi called out to her, his voice as level as still water.

"Don't take Pakku's words so seriously, Princess," the Earthbending Master said. "It's an unfortunate side effect of getting old that we also turn indelicate in the process. You've earned your seat among us; it is only right that you fill it."

Azula turned her head back over her shoulder, but her eyes had no malice in them as she regarded the king of Omashu.

"I have no desire to be a hindrance," she said, "and I can see that there are those in this room who will never trust me. I don't care about that, but I do care that this treaty is signed. I have more important things to do with my time than waste it crushing withered ants beneath my heel."

The princess walked out of the hall without another word, making her way in fuming silence back toward the point where she'd seen Hanzo and the others split off from the diplomatic group. Kaji could feel the tension in Azula's muscles, and let the natural heat of his own body flow into the shoulders beneath him. The princess sighed quietly in thanks as her frustration slowly melted away, reaching up and letting her dragon nuzzle at her hand.

"Good boy," she said affectionately, and Kaji purred. Azula moved along the other path until she saw her brother, Hanzo and Toph lounging in a shaded resting area. Sokka was nowhere to be seen at first, but a quick look around revealed that he'd moved out into the open, grassy field nearby and was getting ready to spar with a Kyoshi warrior — Suki, by the looks of her.

"Azula?" Hanzo asked, rising to his feet and approaching her with a light frown on his face. "What're you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"I was getting in the way," she answered with a sigh. "One of the northern Waterbenders couldn't stand the thought of me being at the conference. He started insulting me, and Lu Ten had to intervene…" the princess shrugged. "So I just left."

"Good," her boyfriend replied evenly, and Azula could hear the subtle strain in his voice as he worked to repress his anger. "No point in putting up with someone like that if they can't even respect you enough to be civil. I don't care what Azulon did to the North during the War; just because you were named after him, that doesn't mean you're responsible for his actions."

"I know that," the princess said wearily, sinking down into a chair and leaning back against it as Kaji slunk down to coil in her lap. She was about to say something else, but her eyes caught sight of Sokka and Suki circling each other and she hesitated.

"Sokka doesn't really think he can take her, does he?" Azula asked, getting to her feet again to watch the spar as it unfolded. "He's been training with that sword of his for less than a month. Granted, that's pretty much the only thing he's been doing since he got to the palace— but still."

She moved over to a better vantage point and Hanzo followed her, the pair and their dragon joining Zuko and Toph as spectators to the unofficial duel.

"Oh man, he's nervous," the Earthbender said as Sokka and Suki clashed for the first time, the blunted steel of their sparring blades letting out a muted _clang_ as they connected. "His heart's beating way too fast. I tried to tell him this was a terrible idea, but did he listen? Of course not."

Suki and Sokka traded blows almost coyly at first, each of them feeling out the other's defense and offense for weak points and openings. Sokka's form of attack was more suited to the lunges and stabs of the _jian_, which were being batted aside with ease by the sweeping, graceful strokes of Suki's _katana_ forms.

"He's not going to get anywhere like that," Zuko admonished, shaking his head. "Sokka fought me once before when I was using a _katana_, back down South. He should know where to look for the openings in her defense."

Steel clashed against steel a few more times, the pace of the exchanges increasing. It was clear to the fighters observing the match that Suki was trying to wear her opponent down rather than go for a winning strike outright, and the strategy was serving her well. Sokka was starting to flag; his strikes were slowing down, and Suki was routinely breaking through his defense with pinpoint slashes and stabs.

"She doesn't have very many openings that I can see, Zuko," Hanzo chimed in, his dark green eyes intently focused on the ebb and flow of the mock duel. "And Sokka doesn't seem to want to capitalize on the few she does have, either. He could have disarmed her there, but he let her get a solid hit on his dominant arm instead. It's like he's trying to lose on purpose."

Toph cocked her head slightly to the side, curious.

"He doesn't feel flustered anymore," she said, "and usually Notches is furious when Zuko gets the upper hand on him in a fight this badly. He's gotta have some kind of trick up his sleeve."

Suki feigned a strike to the left, fooling Sokka into blocking there before shifting her stance and following up seamlessly with an attack on his right side. The blunted metal hit his side hard, and Sokka buckled. Suki took a few steps back, lowering her blade and arching her eyebrow.

"Had enough yet?" she asked, the ghost of a smile playing around her lips.

"If he does have a trick up his sleeve, Toph," Zuko said lowly, "he's running out of time to play it."

Sokka slowly regained his footing, going so far as to chuckle while he wiped a trace of sweat out of his eyes.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you," he grit out, "never to lower your weapon before the fight's done?"

Suki barely had time to react as Sokka surged forward in a whirl of flashing steel, moving almost as quickly as he had at the beginning of the fight. Pressing a relentless assault with strike after strike after strike, he forced Suki to give ground again and again as he advanced, attacking with a surety of form that Zuko had never seen from his friend before.

"Well, this hardly seems fair," Suki managed to grit out in between dodges and blocks, wondering just how long Sokka's withering swordplay could last. "Letting yourself get beaten up just to get me to drop my guard? That's a pretty cheap trick, Sokka."

"Hey, not my fault you slacked off," her opponent countered with a smile as he delivered a crushing blow, causing Suki's sword to quiver so badly that the shock to her arm made her drop the blade altogether. "That was your mistake," Sokka finished, holding his own weapon up so that the point rested only a few inches away from the Kyoshi warrior's throat.

Suki sighed and dropped her weapon, and Sokka's smile widened—

Only to turn into a pained gasp a few heartbeats later as Suki spun to the left, closing the distance between them as she moved, and slammed her fist hard into Sokka's relaxed gut.

Three more swift, precise punches followed on the heels of the haymaker, and Sokka fell to the ground before he'd even had time to figure out what was happening to him.

"Hey," he barely heard Suki's voice calling down to him through his haze, "not my fault you thought I'd be worthless without a sword. Sleep tight, Sokka; that was fun, after all."

As he drifted blissfully into the waiting arms of unconsciousness, the beaten warrior managed to utter one last word.

"Rematch!"

* * *

The air felt heavy, his jaw was sore and his chest still ached, but Sokka could at least tell that he was lying on a comfortable, down mattress and that he was on solid ground. It was all about seeing the positive.

"You," he heard his sister's voice say sternly from somewhere above him, "are an absolute idiot. How could you let someone thrash you so badly?"

"I wanted to see if I could beat her in a fight," Sokka said blearily, "and she was really cute. Mostly the second one. Where are we?"

"Back in the Fire Nation," Katara answered, sighing. "You were out for the whole trip; Toph and June made a bundle on that betting pool. The treaty got signed just fine, by the way," the Avatar added, "in case you care. Mom and dad have already gone back down South, but they send their love. Oh, and Lu Ten and June's wedding is happening in about an hour— I think that covers everything you missed."

"Awesome," Sokka mumbled, before his eyes caught sight of a scroll sitting on the small table by his bedside. "What's that?"

"A note from Suki," Katara said. "She wanted to make sure that got to you when you woke up."

Sokka reached over and carefully unrolled the scroll, blinking a few times to clear his vision some more before holding it up to the light and reading. A smile started slowly creeping its way across his face by the second line… and when he'd finished, Sokka was outright grinning. Katara arched an eyebrow, as puzzled as she was curious.

"What'd it say?"

"Oh, nothing, really," her brother said, the expression on his face and tone of his voice telling the Avatar that it was, in fact, quite something indeed. "I'll tell you later, after the wedding. Now, it's time for more sleep."

"Don't you want to come to the wedding?"

"Sleeeep."

Katara gave up, resisting the temptation to just read the scroll herself before walking out of the room. The attending doctors and nurses had given Sokka a small space to himself in the private section of the palace's medical wing, at the Fire Lord's insistence. The Avatar moved through the network of corridors and hallways with practiced swiftness, smiling at the feeling of festivity that seemed to linger on the air as she went.

Even some of the people in the palace who might not have approved of their Fire Lord's choice of wife loved the occasion of the wedding itself, and the opportunities for joy and merriment that it represented.

"Katara! There you are! I think my mother needs you for something."

She turned at the sound of Zuko's voice, and her smile widened as she saw him walking toward her. He was dressed in formal robes for the wedding, having been picked by Lu Ten to be his best man. The deep red and black fabrics were chased with delicate threads of gold that were supposed to lend the wearer a heightened aura of nobility without being ostentatious, but all Katara could think was how nicely they brought out the color in her fiancé's eyes.

"You look great," she complimented as he came closer, and Zuko didn't even bother fighting down the tinge of red that came to his cheeks as he smiled right back at her.

"Thanks," he said. "You do, too. How's Sokka?"

"Still sleeping it off," Katara groused, "but he doesn't need me watching him anymore."

"Which is good," Azula's voice broke in smoothly as the princess appeared seemingly out of nowhere, "because you have somewhere to be, Avatar."

"Did mother send you looking for her, too?" Zuko asked, curious. His sister nodded.

"The bride-to-be is feeling…" Azula sighed. "Morning pangs."

"Oh," Katara said softly, her blue eyes widening. "That's not good."

"No," the princess agreed as the dragon draped around her shoulders opened his eyes and looked at Zuko, "it isn't. And she's refusing to drink any infusions the palace doctors are offering, not that I blame her... which just leaves you."

Katara nodded.

"Let's go, then."

The Avatar gave Zuko a quick kiss before departing, following Azula's lead as the two of them made their way towards June's room. A few moments passed between the pair of young women before Katara remembered a question that had been nagging at the corner of her mind for the past few days.

"I was in the library," she began, "looking for the Airbending Scrolls your mother had told me about when I met her for the first time at the South Pole. But they weren't there—and one of the librarians said they'd seen you leaving with them not too long ago. Do you know where they are?"

Azula tensed, but Katara only knew that because the princess's dragon shifted in response to the movement.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask me about those," Azula answered at last. "I burned all of the ones in the library."

"You _what?_"

Katara had come to an abrupt stop, and Azula turned to face her with a sigh.

"Look, can we talk about this later?" the princess asked, impatient. "It's not that important, and we're on a tight schedule right now."

"It's not important?" the Avatar echoed, flabbergasted. "Those were the last Airbending Scrolls in existence, Azula! I'd say that you turning them into ashes is very important!"

The princess frowned, remembering that her brother's fiancée was just as stubborn as he was. She wasn't about to let it drop, so Azula just grit her teeth and replied.

"I can't believe I'm wasting time with this," she said. "Did my mother not tell you about Iroh's last will and testament?"

"What?" Katara asked, surprised by the unexpected question. "No; I haven't really seen her since the funeral, she's been so busy."

"And Zuko didn't mention anything, either?"

"No," the Avatar repeated, her confusion turning back into impatience. "Just tell me: what was in Iroh's will?"

"Among other things," Azula answered, "my uncle mentioned that he had made copies of the Airbending Scrolls himself a long time ago, unbeknownst to anyone but him. He claimed that the originals in the library were starting to break down with age, and that they were too precious to be lost forever if something happened to them.

"Zuko probably didn't tell you because he had no idea that I'd destroyed the originals," the princess finished, "on Ozai's orders. But what's important is that copies of the scrolls exist—now, can we please just get to June's room, before she vomits all over her bridal dress?"

Katara said nothing for a few heartbeats, surprised by the unexpected revelation. But she got her bearings again and nodded, continuing to follow Azula through the halls.

"Thank you," the princess said after a few more moments, and the Avatar arched an eyebrow.

"For what?"

"For asking me about it first," Azula clarified, "instead of going to someone else."

Katara smiled.

"Don't mention it."

* * *

Zuko had never been to a wedding before, but he knew he wouldn't mind going to another one after the ceremony had run its course. The prince couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his cousin as happy as he'd been when June had come walking down the aisle, escorted by Ursa and wearing an absolutely beautiful shade of Earth Kingdom dark green.

Zuko, for his part, hadn't been able to take his eyes off of Katara the whole time. As pretty as she was wearing normal clothing, the sight of her clad in a regal, dark blue kimono that fit her form perfectly was nothing short of stunning.

"How do I look?" she'd asked him coyly before the ceremony had begun, no doubt knowing exactly how gorgeous she was. The prince had been speechless, and only a sharp elbow in his side courtesy of Toph kept Zuko from making a total ass of himself.

"Incredible," he'd somehow managed to get out, and his fiancée had given him a deep kiss on the lips in return.

The rest of the wedding had been a bit of a blur after that moment.

"Okay," Lu Ten's voice broke into his cousin's reverie, dragging Zuko back to the present. "People have been making toasts to us all day, and now it's time for me to make one of my own." The Fire Lord raised his cup, taking a moment to glance around the royal table at the smiling faces before continuing.

"To my family," he said, the faintest edge of melancholy in his voice as he spoke. "You're all the greatest people I've ever known, and I could ask for no better gift than sharing today with you."

"We wouldn't have missed it for the world," Ursa responded warmly. "To family."

The rest of the table echoed the toast, and the sound of clinking cups heralded another round of drinking. Hanzo told the story of Kaji's hatching, and it marked the first time Zuko had ever seen his sister blush.

The prince could feel a pleasantly mild lightness rushing to his head… and feeling the constant warmth of Katara leaning against him, one arm around his shoulders as her head rested in the crook of his neck, did nothing to sober him up.

"All right," June spoke up at last, raising her own cup of green tea high. "If the Fire Lord gets to make a toast, then so does the Fire Lady. To the Avatar," she continued, looking in Katara's direction and smiling as she inclined her cup slightly in respect. "Setting aside the fact that her healing talents kept me from making a total mess of myself this morning," June spoke jokingly, before her gray eyes turned completely serious, "without her ability and her guts, my husband wouldn't be sitting next to me right now. Katara saved his life, and I just wish I had the words to thank her for it."

"To the Avatar," Lu Ten affirmed, lifting his own cup, "the broker of our peace treaty, and a true heroine of our Nation."

"To the Avatar!"

The toast was the most jubilant of the night, and Katara had a beaming smile on her face the whole way through. Zuko put one of his arms around her shoulders and leaned toward her, close enough to whisper.

"I'm so proud of you," he said lovingly, and his words were the only sound Katara could hear. "For everything." The prince pulled backwards, giving his fiancée a wide smile.

"Zuko—"

He didn't let her finish the thought. Shifting forward again, Zuko put one of his hands under her chin and gently tilted her head upwards, a heartbeat before giving her a kiss that was every bit as passionate as the one she had given him earlier.

June let out a wolf-whistle at the display of affection, and a fresh gale of mingled laughter and cheers swept through the table.

"Just get a room, you two," Toph called out, and Katara gave Zuko a playful smile as they broke apart.

"I think I'll take that advice, _sifu_," the Avatar replied, rising to her feet and giving the Fire Lord and Fire Lady a deep bow.

"My best wishes to you both for the future," she said, before taking her fiancé by the hand and all but hauling him to his feet.

"C'mon, Zuko."

As the prince and the Avatar left the table behind them, the cheers intensified— but the two of them only had eyes for each other. The walk back to their room was a long one, made longer by the furtive kisses, slight stumbles and spontaneous bursts of laughter that marked the trip. Somewhere along the way they'd managed to shed most of their clothing; Zuko felt sorry for whoever would have to pick up all those layers.

The couple collapsed onto their bed in a tangle of limbs, pausing for a few moments to catch their breath. Katara's hand passed over the two scars that Zuko still carried on his back, and she stilled. Zuko felt her tense up against him, and ran a comforting hand through the long, unbound chestnut hair that flowed down her back.

"I'm right here," he whispered soothingly. "I'm right here. I lost you once, and I've never been more scared in my life than I was in that moment. But you brought me back, and I'm not leaving you again."

"I know," Katara said softly, laying her head against Zuko's bare chest and letting the smooth, comforting rhythm of his heartbeat carry her off to sleep.

* * *

**…**

**…**

**A/N:** And that, as they say, is that. It's been an amazing journey writing this story, and honestly I'm still shocked by how well it's been received. I have nothing but the purest thanks to give to everyone who's stuck with it; your feedback, support and encouraging words mean the world to me. I just hope that this chapter was a satisfying conclusion for you all, and that you've had as much fun reading this story as I've had writing it.

To those of you who might still have some lingering questions (Whatever happened to that sword Hanzo was so fond of? What was it like when Iroh and Ursa went to visit the South Pole? What will Lu Ten and June's kid be like? Will Sokka ever see Suki again?), all I can say is that those are the sorts of plot threads I'll be looking to explore in the follow-up one-shots I'll be releasing, starting at some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future. That depends on how crazy my life feels like getting, honestly. But they are coming, I can promise you that much.

Before I get to the final round of reviewer thank-yous, I must once again offer specific thanks, praise and general adoration to both **Masayume85 **and **Em Dixon** for their truly phenomenal help in ensuring that these last few chapters were as good as they could be. I really can't use enough superlative adjectives to express how much their awesome patience, attention to detail and moral support has meant to me over the course of these last few weeks. You're both amazing people, and it's been both an honor and a privilege. Rock on. Also, thanks to Masayume for helping me decide on Kaji's name... it means 'Conflagration'.

As far as new reviewer thank-yous go, there's only one this week: **SwimmerGal16**. Thanks for chiming in! In addition, though, I'd like to use this final Author's Note as a way to thank the readers who have been among the most consistent reviewers since the early days of this story, because you all are champions. **CrazyDyslexicNerd, 321Haruko123, HakushoRurouni, Tenshi no Mugen, ArrayePL, JourneyRocks13, **and last, but most certainly not least, **badkidoh**. This one's for you, guys and gals.

No teaser this week, obviously, so I guess I'll just wrap this up with an explanation of the title: 'Telos' is Attic Greek for 'End'. Seemed fitting.

**.**

All the best, and thank you so much for taking the time to read this story all the way through! I hope you enjoyed it!

**- Jazz**


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